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DEUS    HOMO. 


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DEUS    HOMO: 


GOD-MAN. 


'He  that  believeth  on  me  shall  never  thikst."  —  John  vi.  86. 


BY 


THEOPHILUS    PARSONS. 


THIRD  EDITION. 


CHICAGO; 

E.  B.  MYERS  AND  CHANDLER, 

87,  Washington  Street. 
1868. 


/C./^ 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1867,  by 

THEOPHILU8    PARSONS, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


CAMBRIDGE: 
8TBBE0TTPF.D    AND     PRINTKD    1)T    JOHN    WILSON    AND    SON. 


?2, 


TABLE  OF   CONTENTS. 


Paqb 

Note viii 

Chaptkb 

I.    Introductory 1 

n.    Of  the  Gospels       27 

in.    Of  the  Birth  and  Nature  of  our  Lord  .     .  62 

IV.    Of  the  Sojourn  of  our  Lord  in  Egypt   .     .  72 

V.     Of  our  Lord's  Temptations 85 

VI.     Of  Freedom 100 

VII.     Of  Prayer 121 

Viii.    Of  the  Spiritual  World 132 

IX.     Of  the  JSIiracles 163 

X.     Of  the  Parables 241 

XI.     Of  Baptism 334 

XII.    Of  the  Supper 347 

XIII.  Op  the  Apostles 362 

XIV.  Of  the  Sadducees  and  Pharisees      ....  382 
XV.    Of  the  Closing  Scenes  in  the  Life  of  our 

Lord 396 

XVI.    Of  the  Divine  and  the  Human    .....  402 

XVII.     Of  the  Divine  Human 418 

XVm.    Conclusion 426 


M 


NOTE. 


NOTE. 


A  RECENT  work  has  attracted  much  attention,  in  which  the 
author  endeavors  to  exhibit  the  human  excellence  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Its  title  is  "  Ecce  Homo." 

More  recently  another  work  has  appeared,  in  which  the  author 
asserts  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ.     Its  title  is  "  Ecce  Deus." 

My  book  is  not  written  as  a  criticism  of  these  books,  or  an  an- 
swer to  them ;  or  with  any  controversial  purpose  whatever.  But, 
believing  that  in  Jesus  Christ  the  Divine  is  Human  and  the  Human 
is  Divine,  that  He  is  God  and  He  is  Man,  both  perfectly,  I  have 
given  to  this  book  a  title  which  may  indicate  this  belief. 

So  far  as  we  understand  this  central  truth  of  all  Truth,  we  may 
understand  the  relation  of  God  to  man,  and  of  man  to  God ;  and 
the  relations  of  men  to  each  other,  because  they  spring  from  the 
relation  of  all  to  Him ;  and  the  universe  —  of  matter  and  of  spirit 
—  for  that  is  made  for  man  and  is  in  perfect  relation  to  him. 

My  purpose  in  this  work  Is  to  exhibit,  as  well  as  I  can,  my  un- 
derstanding of  this  central  Truth,  and  some  of  its  consequences. 
It  has  been  written  in  the  fragments  of  time  left  me  by  engage- 
ments which  are  duties.  With  a  painful  sense  of  its  great  and 
manifold  de^ciencies,  I  publish  it  only  because  I  still  indulge  the 
hope  that  it  may  be  not  wholly  useless. 

T.  P. 

[vUi] 


DEUS   HOMO. 


CHAPTER   I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

The  Gospels  narrate  a  part  of  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  on 
earth.  They  tell  us  of  some  of  His  words  as  men  heard 
them ;  and  of  some  of  His  works  as  men  saw  them.  Within 
this  literal  external  there  lies  a  system  of  spiritual  truth,  which 
tells  us  of  His  life  in  the  spiritual  world,  and  in  the  spirit  of 
man.  This  truth  is  now  revealed  in  an  interpretation  of  the 
Bible  which  rests  upon  the  correspondence  between  spiritual 
things  and  natural  things ;  and  I  begin  my  work  with  some 
remarks  upon  this  correspondence,  and  upon  the  character  of 
the  Gospels,  and  of  the  New  Church  to  which  a  new  inter- 
pretation of  the  Gospels  is  given. 

A  correspondence,  or  analogy,  or  resemblance,  between 
things  of  the  mind  and  things  of  the  body,  or  between  spirit- 
ual things  and  material  things,  must  have  been  perceived  by 
mankind,  in  some  degree  and  in  some  way,  not  only  before 
they  could  express  and  record  their  thoughts  in  written  words, 
but  before  they  could  have  words  in  which  they  could  think 
otherwise  than  as  animals  think.  For  this  correspondence 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  words  referring  to  affection  or 
thought,  and  enters  into  their  formation.     We  have  many 

1 


2  SYMBOLISM  OF  NATURE. 

words  which  retain  both  their  primitive,  or  external  meaning, 
and  also  their  derivative,  or  internal  meaning ;  or  the  mean- 
ing they  had  in  reference  to  material  things,  and  also  the 
meaning  they  acquired  in  reference  to  spiritual  things.  Our 
word  "  right "  not  only  meant  originally  a  straight  line,  but  is 
now  used  in  that  sense ;  although  it  is  also  our  word  to  ex- 
press conformity  with  moral  requirement.  And  it  also 
expresses  an  idea  which  is  still  more  remote,  —  that  of  a  valid 
claim  to  or  interest  in  property  or  privilege.  So  "  rule," 
which  first  meant,  and  still  means,  a  straight  stick  which 
being  applied  to  a  line  ascertained  whether  it  were  straight, 
then  came  to  mean  a  proposition  or  formula  for  measuring 
moral,  intellectual  or  physical  conformity  with  the  require- 
ment of  law ;  and  then  it  meant  the  law  itself.  And  the 
word  I  have  just  used,  law,  affords  a  somewhtft  curious  illus- 
tration. In  some  of  the  Teutonic  languages  it,  or  its  ana- 
logue, comes  from  the  word  "  lay,"  meaning  something  "  laid 
down "  to  be  seen,  remembered  and  observed.  In  German 
the  word  is  from  a  root  signifying  to  set  down,  as  something 
set  down  for  observance ;  and  in  Latin  and  the  languages 
derived  thence,  it  comes  probably  from  a  root  signifj'ing  "  to 
read,"  and  then  law  is  something  written  that  it  may  be  read 
and  obeyed ;  or  possibly  from  a  root  signifying  to  select  cer- 
tain things,  or  collect  them  together ;  and  then  law  means  a 
method  of  acting,  selected  and  imposed  for  requirement,  if 
the  law  be  positive,  or  for  prohibition,  if  it  be  negative. 
Wherever  we  seek  for  the  origin  of  this  term  "  law,"  which 
expresses  something  "purely  mental,  we  must  find  it  in  some- 
thing which  begins  by  expressing  a  purely  bodily  act.  And 
again,  in  describing  this,  I  have  just  used  such  another  word, 
"impose,"  which  only  meant  originally  to  place  one  thing 
on  another,  as  we  might  put  a  burden  on  a  man's  shoulders. 
Nor  could  I  write  without  using  such  words ;  for  our  lan- 
guage is  full  of  them,  and  rests  upon  them.  So  it  is  in  all 
languages  of  which  I  have  any  knowledge ;  and  the  state- 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NATURE.  3 

ments  of  those  who  have  a  far  wider  and  more  accurate 
knowledge  of  languages,  both  ancient  and  modern,  authorize 
the  belief  that  it  is  an  universal  law. 

Philology,  or  the  science  of  language,  has  been  much 
studied  recently ;  and  the  leaders  in  that  science,  although 
they  do  not  use  our  word  "  correspondence,"  agree  that  all 
words  in  all  languages,  which  express  ideas  that  are  purely 
mental  or  emotional,  at  first  expressed  purely  sensuous  ideas, 
and  came  afterwards  to  express  these  higher  ideas  by  meta- 
phor founded  on  the  analogy  between  things  of  sense  and 
things  of  thought  and  affection.  And  Miiller,  a  leading  phi- 
lologist of  this  day,  reaches  a  result  of  much  interest  to  us. 
By  tracing  back  language  to  its  primitive  formation,  he  comes 
to  the  conclusion,  that  in  the  earliest  ages,  the  human  mind 
must  have  possessed  an  aptitude  for  and  a  tendency  to  the 
perception  of  analogies  between  spirit  and  matter,  since  xxn- 
known ;  and  that  not  only  language,  but  mythology,  was 
founded  upon  them  ;  and  he  calls  this  "  the  age  of  metaphor."' 
Compare  this  with  Swedenborg's  statement,  made  an  hundred 
years  ago,  that  in  those  primitive  ages,  the  correspondence 
between  what  is  of  the  spirit  of  man  and  what  is  of  external 
nature  was  a  matter  of  familiar  knowledge,  and  of  common 
perception ;  and  he,  too,  declares  that  the  old  mythologies 
were  founded  upon  this  perception. 

Among  all  races,  from  the  earliest  days,  Poetry  has  existed. 
It  has  been  a  mode  of  expression  sought  by  the  purest  and 
best  affections  and  the  profoundest  thoughts ;  and  it  has 
re-acted  upon  them  to  give  to  both  affection  and  thought, 
force,  distinctness  and  elevation.  The  reason  is,  that  poetry 
is  essentially  founded  upon  this  correspondence ;  and  because 
poetry  reaches  from  nature  to  spirit,  and  embraces  both,  it 
has  brought  to  the  heart  and  to  the  mind  treasures  of  feeling 
and  of  thought,  not  otherwise  attainable. 

Poetry  may  be  illustrated  by  comparing  it  with  Science, 
using  both  words  in  a  very  wide  sense.     For  by  science  may 


4  SYMBOLISM  OF  NATURE. 

be  meant  all  knowledge  of  this  external  universe.  Then 
poetry  comes  to  fill  this  knowledge  with  something  that  is 
better  and  higher ;  something  which  makes  this  knowledge 
instructive  about  the  relation  between  the  forms  and  in- 
struments of  life,  and  life  itself.  Or  if  we  wish  to  give 
the  name  of  knowledge  to  this  also,  then  poetry  imparts  a 
higher  and  more  interior  knowledge,  which  lies  within  the 
lower  and  outer  gifts  of  science. 

In  this,  however,  I  speak  of  poetry  in  its  true  character, 
doing  its  proper  work.  At  the  present  day,  the  common 
understanding  about  poetry,  justified  perhaps  by  a  large  part 
of  the  poetry  we  have  now,  is  one  of  the  proofs  as  well  as  one 
of  the  effects  of  the  lowness  of  the  plane  on  which  human 
thought  now  stands  and  acts.  Many  love  poetry  and  enjoy 
it  very  much,  and  value  it  very  highly.  But  even  they  think 
it  unreal.  Even  they  would  not  deny  that  which  to  most 
men  is  a  self-evident  truism,  —  that  poetry  is  merely  imagin- 
ative ;  and  that  imagination  can  do  no  more  than  suggest 
pleasing  unrealities ;  pleasing,  and  permissible  because  harm- 
less, so  long  as  it  is  carefully  remembered  that  what  imagin- 
ation suggests  must  necessarily  be  opposed  to  truth  and 
fact.  For  "  imaginary  "  is  now,  by  common  consent,  used 
as  synonymous  with  unreal,  or  non-existing  and  false.  Say 
to  any  man,  "Your  reasoning  sounds  well,  and  has  much 
force;  but  I  think  imagination  has  something  to  do  with 
it ; "  and  he  would  suppose  you  intended  to  charge  him  with 
error  and  folly. 

Doubtless  imagination  often  deceives.  It  is  certainly  the 
parent  of  a  vast  proportion  of  all  existing  illusions.  But  this 
is  only  because  a  good  thing,  when  perverted,  becomes  a 
bad  thing ;  and  a  very  good  thing  becomes  a  very  bad  thing. 
Imagination  is  one  of  the  faculties  which  are  given  to  man, 
that  he  may  learn  what  beasts  cannot  learn ;  that  he  may 
prepare  himself  to  become  what  beasts  cannot  become  and 
therefore  need  no  faculties  to  prepare  them  to  become.    Im- 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NATURE.  5 

agination,  when  perverted  and  abused,  teaches  illusion  and 
untruth,  for  the  very  reason  that  when  unperverted  and 
rightly  used,  it  teaches  truths  which  cannot  be  learned  other- 
wise. For  a  faculty  which  when  used  in  one  way  teaches 
certain  things,  when  it  is  used  in  an  opposite  way  must  teach 
opposite  things. 

Reason  is  a  most  important  faculty ;  but  Imagination  is 
also  important.  They  are  intended  to  work  together  in  per- 
fect harmony.  They  are  indeed  indispensable  to  each  other. 
Imagination  without  reason  is  wild,  fantastic  and  unsafe. 
Reason  without  imagination  is  barren,  and  lies  crippled  and 
grovelling  on  the  ground.  Nor  let  it  be  asked  which  is  the 
greater  of  the  two.  Only  when  they  are  separated,  only 
when  they  refuse  that  cordial  co-operation  without  which 
neither  can  do  its  own  work  well,  can  the  question  be  asked. 
When  thus  separated.  Rationalism  teaches  infidelity,  and 
Imagination  suggests  only  falsehood ;  and  it  is  an  idle  ques- 
tion, which  of  these  two  should  have  precedence. 

There  are  tests  by  which  we  may  know  whether  imagina- 
tion is  teaching  truth  or  falsehood.  One  is  that  already  indi- 
cated, the  confirmation  of  its  lessons  by  reason.  All  human 
faculties,  when  healthy  and  rightfully  used,  act  in  harmony ; 
but  they  also  act  together  in  what  has  the  semblance  of  har- 
mony, when  both  are  unsound  and  wrong,  and  both  are  wrong 
in  the  same  way.  Hence,  if  the  imagination  is  depraved, 
the  reason  may  be  equally  depraved ;  and  then  their  harmony 
is  an  agreement  in  falsehood.  Therefore  there  is  need  of  a 
further  test ;  and  that  is,  the  consonance  of  that  which  imagi- 
nation suggests  and  reason  confii-ms,  with  the  Word  of  God. 
This  Word  is  uttered  to  man,  or  this  Wisdom  is  revealed  to 
man,  because  our  Father  knows  the  necessary  and  eternal 
liability  to  error  which  belongs  to  human  freedom,  (as  will  be 
stated  more  fuUy  in  subsequent  pages,)  and  gives  in  the  Bible 
His  own  wisdom.  His  own  absolute  truth,  to  man,  in  such  a 
form  that  it  may  be  —  still  preserving  human  freedom  —  an 


6  SYMBOLISM  OF  NATURE. 

eternal  and   sufficient  protection  against  error,  if  that  pro- 
tection is  desired  because  that  error  is  hated.* 

*  In  giving  this  place  and  this  value  to  Imagination,  I  may  bring  from 
some  minds,  —  who  will  not  care  to  notice  what  I  say  of  Eeason  and  its  re- 
lation to  Imagination,  —  the  objection  that  I  admit  the  system  of  New 
Church  Truth  to  be  founded  in  a  good  degree  upon  imagination,  and  there- 
fore admit  it  to  be  unreal  and  false.  But  I  am  encouraged  to  say  what  I 
think  about  this  faculty  by  the  growing  appreciation  of  its  value.  Years 
ago,  Brewster,  in  his  life  of  Newton,  spoke  of  Imagination  as  indispensable 
to  the  highest  work  of  the  mathematician.  In  a  lecture  recently  published 
by  Tyndal,  who,  I  suppose,  knows  more  about  light  and  heat  than  any  other 
scientist,  he  says,  "  It  is  thought  by  some,  that  natural  science  has  a  deaden- 
ing influence  on  the  imagination,  and  a  doubt  might  be  fairly  raised  as  to 
the  value  of  any  study  which  would  have  necessarily  this  effect.  .  .  . 
This,  in  fact,  is  the  faculty  which  enables  us  to  transcend  the  boundaries  of 
sense,  and  connect  the  phenomena  of  our  visible  world  with  those  of  an  in- 
visible one.  Without  imagination  we  never  could  have  arisen  to  the  concep- 
tions which  have  occupied  us  here  to-day."  Both  Brewster  and  Tyndal, 
and  others  who  are  now  saying  such  things  (Agassiz  calls  imagination 
"the  keenest  detective  of  truth"),  use  the  word  imagination,  and  recog- 
nize the  faculty,  in  its  lower  use.  They  refer  to  it  as  that  by  which  we  may 
rise  Irom  the  knowledge  of  facts  and  things  learned  by  sensuous  perception, 
to  the  knowledge  of  material  facts  and  things  and  laws  which  are  beyond 
tlie  apprehension  of  sense.  I  mean  this  too.  But  I  also  mean  that  by  this 
faculty,  always  in  conjunction  with  Keason  and  with  Faith,  we  may  continue 
our  ascent,  and  rise  to  the  knowledge  of  the  spiritual  and  causative  things 
and  forces  and  laws  which  in  this  Universe  of  God  ultimate  themselves  in 
these  externals.  When  such  a  man  as  Tyndal  knows  this,  he  may  repeat 
the  words  he  uses  now,  but  with  a  higher  meaning.  He  may  say,  as  he  says 
in  this  lecture,  "  The  outward  facts  of  nature  are  insufhcient  to  satisfy  the 
mind.  We  cannot  be  content  with  knowing  that  the  heat  and  light  of  the 
sun  warm  and  illuminate  the  world.  We  are  led  irresistibly  to  inquire,  what 
is  light  ?  and  what  is  heat  V  And  this  question  leads  us  at  once  out  of  the 
region  of  sense  into  that  of  imagination.  Thus  pondering,  and  asking,  and 
striving  to  supplement  that  which  is  seen  and  felt,  but  which  is  incomplete, 
by  something  which  is  unseen  and  unfelt,  but  is  necessary  to  its  complete- 
ness, men  of  genius  have  in  part  discerned,  not  only  the  nature  of  light  and 
heat,  but  also  through  them,  the  general  relationship  of  natural  phenomena. 
Nature  is  not  an  aggregate  of  independent  parts,  but  an  organic  whole.  If 
you  open  a  piano  and  sing  into  it,  a  certain  string  will  respond.  Change 
the  pitch  of  your  voice;  the  first  string  ceases  to  vibrate,  but  another  replies. 
Change  again  the  pitch;  the  first  two  strings  are  silent,  while  another  re- 
sponds. Now,  in  altering  the  pitch,  you  simply  change  the  form  of  the  motion 
communicated  by  your  vocal  chords  to  the  air,  one  string  responding  to  one 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NATURE.  7 

Poetry,  genuine  poetry,  rational  poetry,  using  the  Imagina- 
tion, sees  in  the  facts  which  sense  perceives,  or  in  the  struc- 
tures which  sensuous  thought  builds  up,  other  facts  of  a  far 
higher  class  ;  intellectual,  moral,  affectional,  or  spiritual  facts : 
it  is  as  sure  of  these,  as  sense  is  of  its  lower  facts ;  and  it 
knows  how  to  present  them  invested  with  all  the  charm  and 
attractiveness  that  belong  to  them.  Not,  however,  with  the 
force  and  definitiveness  and  fruitfulness  which  also  belong  to 
them.  For  this  completed  result.  Poetry  and  Reason  must, 
and  if  neither  is  perverted,  can,  co-operate. 

Poetry  is,  I  repeat,  as  sure  of  these  higher  facts  as  sense 
of  its  lower  facts ;  and  it  may  well  be  so ;  for  these  lower 
facts  are  but  the  forms,  the  clothing,  the  effects,  in  which  the 
higher  live,  and  by  which  they  are  or  may  be  indicated. 

No  wonder  that  from  the  beginning  Poetry  has  been  the 
willing  handmaid  of  Religion.  Take  our  own  Bible ;  what 
is  more  common  than  to  hear  its  poetry  praised  in  terms  of 
the  most  emphatic  commendation.  But  this  praise  is  usu- 
ally given  as  if  it  implied  —  sometimes  because  it  implies  — 
a  denial  of  peculiar  sanctity,  and  even  of  truth.  As  if 
when  the  Psalms  or  Songs  or  Prophecies  are  called  exquisite 
poems,  this  is  to  assert  that  they  can  have  no  higher  inspira- 
tion than  belongs  to  aU  the  best  poetry.  This  is  just  as 
reasonable  as  it  is  to  say,  as  is  now  sometimes  said,  that  the 
Bible  is  a  book,  and  therefore  not  the  Word  of  God.  It  is  a 
poem,  and  it  is  a  book ;  but  it  is  not  such  a  poem,  or  such  a 
book,  as  others  are. 

form,  and  another  to  another.  And  thus  is  sentient  man  sung  unto  by  nature, 
while  the  optic,  the  auditory,  and  other  nerves  of  the  human  body  are  so 
many  strings,  diflFerently  tuned,  and  responsive  to  different  forms  of  the  uni- 
versal power." 

If  they  who  read  these  words  have  any  knowledge  of  Swedenborg's  phi- 
losophy, they  will  be  struck  with  the  accordance  between  these  latest  words 
of  accepted  science,  and  those  views  of  the  organs  and  faculties  of  sense,  — 
of  what  and  how  and  why  the  eye  sees,  for  example,  —  announced  by  Swe- 
denborg  more  than  a  century  ago. 


8  SYMBOLISM  OF  NATURE. 

Always  has  Poetry  exercised  a  function  of  vast  importance. 
The  best  poetiy  of  our  own  times  does  this  now,  and  never 
was  this  function  more  needed  than  it  is  now.  This  function 
is,  to  suggest,  to  teach,  to  keep  alive,  truths  which  reason,  in 
its  divorce  from  imagination  and  its  contempt  for  imagination, 
is  reluctant  to  learn,  or  unable  to  comprehend  or  appreciate. 
The  best  poetry,  —  that  which  through  all  changes  of  fashion 
or  debasement  of  taste  preserves  some  hold  upon  the  common 
thought,  —  reveals  the  symbolism  of  nature,  and  makes  all  its 
beauty,  its  splendor  and  its  exuberance  of  blessing,  significant, 
and  suggests  relations  of  the  visible  to  the  invisible,  and 
lifts  up  the  mind  into  regions  where  the  fetters  of  time  and 
space  fall  away.  But  all  this  is  permitted  by  reason  in  its 
present  state,  only  on  condition  that  it  be  taken  for  "  poetry ; " 
that  is,  "  fiction."  Let  the  same  things  be  said  with  simple 
directness,  and  presented  in  a  scientific  form  for  rational  ac- 
ceptance, and  they  would  be  at  once  rejected  and  despised. 
It  is  only  because  poetry  lets  this  mistaken  reason  alone,  and 
permits  it  to  reject  all  definite  belief,  that  these  thoughts  are 
allowed  to  enter  as  at  a  side  door,  and  reach  the  affections  if 
they  can,  and  remain  in  the  mind  as  imaginations,  ready  to 
accept  the  name  of  fantasies  whenever  reason  thinks  them 
worth  naming.  What  the  logical  reason  would  not  do  at  all, 
that  poetry  could  do,  and  has  done ;  very  imperfectly  how- 
ever, because  of  its  separation  from  reason.  But  however 
poor  in  comparison  with  what  might  be,  it  is  also  of  vast 
and  immeasurable  value,  if  it  prevents  the  desolation  and 
death  to  which  that  mind  condemns  itself,  which  refuses  to 
listen  to  anything,  to  see  anything,  to  believe  anything,  be- 
yond or  above  nature. 

The  increasing  tendency  to  recognize  this  symbolism  of 
nature  cannot  but  be  perceived  by  observing  and  thoughtful 
persons,  and  to  some  of  them  it  seems  to  be  full  of  danger. 
Gladstone,  the  great  English  statesman  and  orator,  in  a  re- 
cent address  at  Manchester  which  attracted  much  attention, 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NATUBE.  9 

expressed  his  delight  at  the  habit  of  the  workingmen  of  that 
city,  of  leaving  the  places  of  drinking  and  other  gross 
pleasures,  and  spending  their  holidays  in  brief  excursions 
into  the  surrounding  country,  to  enjoy  the  beauty  of  nature ; 
and  of  that  beauty  and  its  significance  he  spoke  most  elo- 
quently. An  able  English  critic  of  this  speech  says,  among 
other  things,  "  In  other  ages  men  worshipped  idols  of  their 
own  making ;  there  seems  now  to  be  a  gi'owing  danger  that 
they  will  worship  the  symbolism  of  nature."  And  this 
would  be  most  dangerous,  if  their  worship  stopped  at  nature ;, 
but  it  is  not  dangerous,  —  it  is  anything  but  dangerous,  —  if  '^ 
j  through  this  symbolism  they  learn  to  worship  Him  whose 
constant  Presence  creates  nature,  and  is  its  cause,  its  life  and 
soul. 

1  Among  the  early  Christians  there  were  earnest  and  direct 
efforts  to  bring  this  symbolism  of  nature  to  bear  upon  the 
interpretation  of  the  Bible.  A  large  proportion  of  the  most 
eminent  of  the  Fathers  endeavored  to  find  in  this  way  the 
spiritual  meaning  of  Scripture.  I  may  say  more  of  these 
efforts  elsewhere ;  now,  only  that  they  gradually  ceased,  and 
would  be  generally  and  justly  condemned  as  without  autho- 
rity or  reasonableness.  Quite  frequently,  however,  the 
"  orientalisms  "  and  the  figurative  style  of  the  Bible  are  now 
spoken  of;  and  some  portion  of  this  symbolism  every  one 
admits.  Probably  no  one  who  had  any  reverence  for  the 
Bible,  ever  doubted  that  Egypt,  Canaan,  the  wanderings  in 
the  wilderness,  and  the  like,  have  some  spiritual  meaning. 
An,;  there  are  many  texts,  universally  admitted  for  their 
symbolic  meaning,  which  can  have  no  other. 

And  now.  What  has  the  New  Church  to  say  to  this  ?  It 
proposes  to  gather  these  fragments  into  a  whole ;  to  give 
systematic  order  and  connection  to  the  scattered  and  severed 
parts.  It  declares  that  what  has  been  only  permitted,  and 
that  upon  humiliating  terms,  is  a  positive  truth,  which  is  the 
foundation  of  a  most  real  science ;  and  that  this  science  has 


10  SYMBOLISM  OF  NATURE. 

the  power  of  illustrating  all  truth,  by  making  the  world  of 
sense  the  transparent  covering  of  a  world  that  neither  the 
senses  nor  sensuous  thought  can  discover.  It  declares  that 
faculties  of  the  human  mind,  which  have  been  separated  and 
have  pined  and  sickened  in  this  separation,  may  now  come 
together;  and  that  no  man  shall  put  them  asunder.  That 
Reason  shall  put  forth  a  higher  power  than  any  it  has  been 
conscious  of,  and  do  a  nobler  work  than  any  it  has  contem- 
plated. While  Imagination,  which  Divine  mercy  has  never 
permitted  to  be  wholly  suppressed  or  extirpated,  and  which 
while  dimly  recognized  has  always  been  active,  can  now  co- 
operate with  Reason  in  bestowing  upon  the  thoughtful  mind 
treasures  of  knowledge,  and  upon  the  religious  heart  motives, 
affections,  hopes  and  faith,  which  have  heretofore  been  seen 
only  as  glimpses  into  heaven  through  broken  and  tempestuous 
clouds. 

It  accepts  and  accounts  for  efforts  of  the  human  mind  in 
all  past  ages,  which  were  never  more  than  momentarily 
successful,  but  could  never  be  suppressed.  It  exhibits  that 
as  a  fact,  which  has  always  been  felt  to  be  one,  and  never 
seen  to  be  one.  It  gives  positive  reality,  scientific  precision 
and  completeness,  and  a  foundation  not  to  be  shaken,  to  the 
symbolism  of  nature ;  and  by  it,  and  the  use  to  be  made  of  it, 
brings  into  harmonious  co-operation  and  mutual  respect, 
Reason  and  Imagination,  Science  and  Poetry.  It  not  only 
declares  that  this  symbolism  exists,  but  whence  and  how  it 
exists,  or  the  cause  and  method  of  it ;  and  why  it  exists,  or 
the  purpose  for  which  it  is,  and  the  good  it  may  do.  And 
it  reveals  the  harmony  between  the  works  and  the  Word  of 
<jrod,  makes  each  of  these  explanatory  of  the  other,  and  brings 
them  both  to  the  mind  of  man,  as  joint  teachers  of  infinite, 
living,  ever-growing,  ever-ascending  Truth. 

I  have  said  the  New  Church  does  this,  gives  this.  But,  to 
the  present  age  ?  to  you,  or  to  me  ?  Certainly  not  in  any- 
thing like  completeness  of  disclosure,  or  perfect  clearness  of 


SYMBOLISM  OF  NATURE.  11 

vision.  For  that,  mankiad  must  wait  as  the  ages  roll  by. 
The  Science  of  Correspondence  could  not  be  the  great  thing 
that  it  is,  were  that  possible  at  once.  But  what  is  now  given 
is,  first,  the  assurance  of  a  great  truth ;  and  then  such  rea- 
sons, principles  and  illustrations  as  justify  and  explain  this 
assurance.  Compared  with  what  has  been,  how  much. 
With  what  will  be,  how  little. 

Swedenborg  is  an  authority  for  the  fact  that  there  is  such 
a  science.  And  to  him  and  his  disclosures  we  look  in  the 
first  place  for  the  principles  of  the  Science  of  Correspon- 
dence, and  the  method  of  its  application  to  the  Word  and  the 
works  of  God.  He  has  given  us  the  fact  that  there  is  such 
a  science,  and  its  ground  and  principles ;  and  with  this  he 
gives  illustrations  of  their  application  and  the  fruits  they  bear, 
quite  enough  for  the  implantation  of  this  science  in  human 
thought,  as  a  permanent  and  most  important  instrument 
for  the  advancement  of  our  race  in  knowledge  and  wisdom. 

There  is,  however,  nothing  in  the  history  of  mankind  to 
justify  the  hope  of  an  early  or  an  easy  reception  of  the 
science,  as  a  science.  An  eminent  historian  of  the  progress 
of  knowledge,  has,  in  his  account  of  every  great  discovery, 
first,  a  chapter  concerning  the  preparatory  and  introductory 
epoch,  then  one  relating  to  the  discovery  itself,  and  then  one 
describing  the  gradual  and  slow  recognition  and  use  of  the 
discovery.  No  truth  can  be  received  by  those  who  are  not 
ready  for  it.  And  it  has  always  been  the  case,  that  every 
great  truth,  which  was  to  work  an  extensive  and  important 
change  in  the  intellectual  condition  of  mankind,  for  that  very 
reason  comes  into  conflict  with  those  modes  of  belief  and 
opinion  which  it  will  reform,  and  therefore  finds  a  general 
unreadiness  for  its  reception ;  and  this  can  give  way  only 
gradually.  This  has  always  been  more  true  of  the  more  im- 
portant truths,  and  most  true  of  the  most  important ;  and  if 
the  same  proportion  holds,  it  will  be  more  true  of  this  Truth 
than  of  any  other  scientific  truth  ever  made  known. 


12  SYMBOLISM  OF  NATURE. 

But  another  thing  which  has  always  been  seen,  may  be 
seen  now ;  and*  that  is,  some  preparation  for  any  impending 
discovery.  I  think  this  may  now  be  seen  in  some  advance 
even  in  what  is  called  science,  towards  the  recognition  of 
some  positive  relations  between  the  visible  and  the  invisible 
world.  If  such  views  as  are  distinctly  expressed  in  Oersted's 
"  Soul  in  Nature  "  *  prevail  in  any  mind  (and  the  book  does 
not  stand  quite  alone),  they  must  prepare  that  mind  to  re- 
ceive the  Science  of  Correspondence.  I  think  the  very 
general  and  indefinite,  but  quite  common  effort  to  find  the 
affmities,  or  homologies,  or  analogies,  wliich  connect  all  things, 
has  a  decided  tendency  in  the  same  direction. 

It  is  in  this  connection,  that  I  welcome  what  to  many 
religious  persons  seems  a  most  alarming  characteristic  of  the 
times.  I  refer  to  the  violent,  the  persistent,  and  the  seem- 
ingly successful  assaults  of  a  science  for  the  most  part  purely 
naturalistic,  against  the  Bible.  It  cannot  now  be  denied  that 
some  of  the  best  established  certainties  of  science  enter  into 
conflict  with  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word.  Of  late  this  an- 
tagonism has  been  developed  in  all  directions.  It  must  be 
considered  as  proved,  that  many  statements  in  Genesis  and 
Exodus,  and  in  the  subsequent  history  of  the  Jews,  cannot  be 
literally  true.  And  the  extreme  difficulty  attending  any 
theory  of  Inspiration  which  has  ever  hitherto  been  offered, 
weighs  oppressively  upon  religious  and  thoughtful  minds. 

These  assaults  are  made  from  various  motives,  some  of 
which  I  suppose  to  be  very  bad ;  but  I  have  no  fear  of  their 
ultimate  effect.  The  religious  sentiment  of  mankind  cannot 
perish,  for  the  plain  reason  that  mankind  are  not  —  certainly 
not  yet  —  to  perish.  And  this  religious  sentiment  will  in  aU 
ages  demand,  and  wiU  in  aU  ages  find,  its  support  and  nutri- 

*  "Geist  im  Natur"  is  the  title  in  the  original  German.  I  have  never 
seen  the  book  except  in  the  translation  published  in  Bohn's  Library.  Its 
publication  in  that  collection  is  some  evidence  of  its  —  at  least  expected  — 
popularity.    I  may  recur  to  this  book  again. 


THE  ASSAULTS  AGAINST  THE  BIBLE.  13 

ment  in  the  Bible ;  in  that  revealed  Word  of  God  which  was 
revealed  for  this  very  purpose.  It  is  interesting  and  pleasant 
to  me  to  observe  —  more  in  England  than  on  the  continent 
of  Europe,  and  more  there  than  here,  but  in  some  sort 
everywhere  —  evidence  of  a  growing  willingness  and  a  gi"ow- 
ing  endeavor  to  find  in  the  spiritual  sense  of  Scripture,  not  a 
substitute  for,  but  the  support  of  and  the  soul  of  its  natural 
sense. 

The  Bible  has  been,  until  our  days,  providentially  pre- 
served from  these  assaults,  partly  by  the  profound  although 
dim  reverence  felt  for  it,  and  partly  by  the  inadequacy  of  the 
weapons  and  the  strength  of  science  to  make  these  assaults 
successful.  But  now  they  are  strong  and  permitted,  because 
a  sure  and  perfect  defence  against  their  utmost  violence  is 
within  the  reach  of  mankind. 

I  will  not  here  anticipate  the  consideration  of  a  topic  to  be 
presented  in  other  places,  namely,  the  constant  presence  of 
freedom  as  one  of  the  constituent  elements  of  human  nature, 
and  the  necessity  of  free  and  voluntary  self-determination  for 
all  permanent  improvement.  I  will  say,  however,  that  upon 
this  principle  depends  the  fact,  that  whenever  new  moral  or 
religious  truth  is  presented  to  men,  it  can  only  be  so  pre- 
sented for  any  useful  purpose,  as  to  render  its  acceptance  by 
choice  and  in  freedom,  possible :  more  than  this  caimot  be. 
The  coercion  of  men  into  constant  good  conduct  by  an  ever- 
present  terror,  would  not  satisfy  the  Divine  desire  of  making 
men  happy ;  nor  would  it,  to  coerce  them  into  intellectual  re- 
ception of  truth  by  such  an  exhibition  or  such  a  proof  of  it,  as 
should  force  assent.  Always,  and  by  a  universal  and  irre- 
sistible necessity,  religious  truth  is  given  in  conformity  with 
this  law.  The  very  miracles  of  our  Lord,  which  led  to  His 
feet  those  who  were  willing  to  see  in  Him  the  presence  of 
His  Father,  only  persuaded  those  who  did  not  love  the  truth, 
that  He  was  the  agent  of  Beelzebub. 

This  law,  because  it  is  universal,  is  applicable  everywhere. 


14  TEE  ASSAULTS  AGAINST  THE  BIBLE. 

The  giving  of  every  religious  dispensation  is  delayed,  until 
there  be  so  much  readiness  for  it,  as  will  render  a  reception 
of  it  in  freedom  possible ;  nor  is  it  or  can  it  be  pressed  upon 
any  nation,  or  age,  or  individual,  beyond  this  measure. 

Take,  for  example,  this  correspondence  between  spiritual 
things  and  natural  things.  It  has  been  altogether  withheld 
in  perhaps  no  age  and  from  no  race.  As  far  as  men  were  will- 
ing to  use  it,  in  language,  in  poetry,  on  the  outskirts  of  science, 
or  anywhere,  or  in  any  way,  they  could  do  so.  But  now  the 
Truth,  the  Fact,  the  Science  of  Correspondence,  is  given,  as  a 
great  reality.  We  may  be  sure  that  it  was  not  given,  unless 
there  existed  a  certain  readiness  to  receive  it ;  and  we  may  be 
sure  that  it  is  given  only  to  meet  that  readiness. 

Let  me  say,  that  while  I  certainly  could  not,  I  certainly 
would  not  if  I  could,  present  this  subject  with  such  a  charm 
of  eloquence,  or  such  overmastering  logic,  as  should  make 
every  reader,  whether  willing  or  no,  lay  hold  of  it  as  a  great 
and  certaia  discovery.  I  certainly  would  not,  if  I  could,  so 
present  it  as  to  wrench  open  a  reluctant  understanding,  and 
gain  a  momentary  admittance  for  that  truth  which,  when  the 
mind  returned  to  its  freedom,  would  assuredly  be  cast  forth, 
and  the  darkness  be  all  the  blacker  for  the  light  which  had 
flashed  upon  it. 

Far  less  than  this  is  my  purpose ;  far  less.  I  desire  only 
80  to  present  this  science,  and  some  of  the  truths  and  prin- 
ciples which  compose  it,  and  so  to  illustrate  them  by  their 
bearing  on  the  Gospels  of  Christ,  as  not  to  comjiel  their  re- 
ception by  a  negative  mind,  or  by  one  to  which  the  suffi- 
ciency of  sensuous  thought  and  mere  naturalism  leaves  no 
desire  for  anything  more ;  but,  to  assist  an  affirmative  mind, 
or  one  already  opened  by  a  belief  that  this  life  is  given  to 
prepare  for  and  be  followed  by  a  never-ending  life,  and  that 
there  is  a  God  in  whose  universe  there  is  something  higher 
than  nature,  —  to  assist  such  a  mind  to  see  so  much  of  this 
new  gift  to  man,  as  to  desire  to  see  more. 


CREATION.  15 


VTBT   THIS    CORRESPONDENCE   EXISTS. 

The  New  Church  not  only  declares  the  fact  of  a  corre- 
spondence between  spiritual  things  and  natural  things,  but 
explains  and  accounts  for  this  fact. 

The  fundamental  truth  upon  which  this  explanation  rests, 
is,  that  God,  the  Creator,  creates  the  universe,  not  from 
nothing,  but  from  Himself.  From  Himself  go  forth  what, 
if  we  please,  we  may  caU  spheres ;  although  we  can  have  no 
adequate  idea  of  them,  and  our  language  gives  us  no  precise 
expressions  for  even  the  ideas  we  have.  But  what  flows 
from  Him  is  finited  by  ceasing  to  be  Himself.  That  sphere 
wliich  is  first  from  Him,  and  nearest  to  Him,  becomes  an  in- 
strument in  which  is  His  divine  creative  power,  and  by  which 
a  farther  and  more  external  sphere,  or  manner  of  being,  is 
caused.  This,  in  its  turn,  becomes  a  similar  instrument ; 
and  His  power  acts  in  and  by  that  sphere  to  produce  or  create 
another  and  farther  form  of  existence.  Every  sphere  which 
is  nearer  to  Him  is  farther  from  us  and  from  our  possibility 
of  adequate  conception  ;  and  every  lower  sphere  comes  nearer 
to  us  and  more  within  our  reach.  So  creation  goes  on,  —  not 
at  the  beginning  only,  and  then  for  all  time,  —  but  in  all  time, 
continuously,  incessantly,  and  as  an  always  present  and  always 
causative  activity,  until  the  lowest  sphere  of  all,  the  material 
xmiverse  —  the  Last  Finite  —  is  formed;  and  between  this 
and  the  First  Finite  are  aU  possible  modes  of  existence. 

But  the  Last  Finite  itself,  the  dead  things  of  earth,  are  not 
wholly  within  our  reach.  That  they  are  not  all  witliin  the 
reach  of  the  senses,  the  telescope  and  the  microscope  alone 
would  prove ;  for  whatever  either  may  tell  which  we  could 
not  otherwise  know,  its  farthest  disclosures  indicate  a  world 
beyond  them.  Nor  are  they  any  more  within  the  reach  of 
our  understanding ;  for  within  the  nature  and  forces  and  laws 
of  material  things  lie  inscrutable  mysteries.     There  may  be 


16  CREATION. 

no  definite  limits  to  the  possible  progress  of  science ;  but  be- 
yond this  again  will  ever  be  something  more ;  for  even  the 
material  world  has  the  infinite  within.  That  infinite  is  One, 
but  it  is  a  One  composed  of  distinct,  although  united  elements 
of  being ;  and  these  are  gathered  and  ultimated  in  the  last 
finite,  which  comprehends  the  whole  external  universe. 

In  what  manner  the  creative  force  within  each  sphere  of 
being  uses  that  sphere  to  create  a  lower  until  we  reach  the 
lowest,  we  can  xmderstand,  if  at  all,  most  imperfectly.  But 
something  about  it  we  may  understand.  We  may  at  least 
know  that,  if  we  cannot  know  how,  the  soul  creates  the  body. 
In  the  mother's  ovum,  when  that  is  impregnated  by  the  father, 
is  the  life  of  the  man  who  is  to  be  born.  It  is  there,  con- 
taining, in  first  principles,  all  the  life  of  the  father  and 
mother,  and  of  all  their  ancestors.  It  is  there,  but  only 
potentially  ;  and  in  our  day  science  now  recognizes  the  poten- 
tial existence  of  force,  and  thereby  possesses  a  great  truth, 
and  a  powerful  instrument  for  the  acquisition  of  truth.     Life, 

—  the  individualized  and  personal  life  of  the  man  that  is  to 
be,  —  is  in  the  impregnated  ovum  potentially.  And  this  life, 
gathering  together  from  earthly  materials  all  that  it  needs  for 
clothing  and  ultimation,  forms  a  body,  and  fills  it  as  it  forms 
it,  and  causes  its  growth  to  maturity.     And  a  correspondence 

—  imperfect  from  the  interruption  of  many  obstacles  —  exists 
between  the  soul  and  the  body. 

The  soul  does  not  create ;  it  only  finds  and  uses  what  it 
thus  gathers  and  forms  and  animates.  The  vital  and  creative 
force  within  any  sphere  may  be  regarded  as  operative,  first, 
within  the  sphere  itself,  where  it  is  all  the  life  that  is  there. 
Then,  as  going  onward  to  create ;  or,  as  descending  into 
a  farther  and  lower  creation,  and  there  existing  and  operat- 
ing. It  is  the  active  jirinciple  in  all  the  members  and  indi- 
vidualities of  each  sphere,  and  in  all  their  activities ;  as  in 
the  life  of  men  and  animals,  and  in  what  we  call  the  life  — 
using  the  word  with  a  lower  meaning  —  of  vegetables ;  and 


CREATION.  17 

in  all  the  forces  and  workings  of  material  elements.  But 
it  also  passes  beyond  every  sphere  (except  the  lowest),  and 
creates  the  method  of  being  below  its  own ;  and  in  this  way 
the  whole  spiritual  world  is  the  instrument  by  which  the 
whole  material  world  is  brought  into  being,  as  the  soul  is  the 
instrument  by  which  the  body  is  brought  into  being.  It 
causes  the  things  of  a  higher  sphere  to  find  and  gather  among 
the  things  of  a  lower  sphere,  what  the  higher  things  need, 
that  they  may  be  and  live  as  individualities  among  these 
lower  things.  And  it  is  in  this  way,  or  by  this  method,  that 
the  soul  forms  the  body.  Even  as  I  write  these  words,  I  feel 
how  nearly  useless  it  must  be  to  suggest  such  things,  and 
leave  them  wholly  miexplarned.  If  the  character  and  scope 
of  my  work  prevent  such  explanation  as  I  might  hope  to 
make  by  a  full  consideration  of  these  topics,  why  even  sug- 
gest them  ?  I  feel  this,  and  yet  offer  these  suggestions  to 
those  who  may  think  them  worth  any  consideration. 

The  main  point  is,  that  a  relation  and  a  correspondence 
exists  between  all  that  is  spiritual  and  all  that  is  material ;  and 
that  all  that  is  material  is  caused  or  formed  by  what  is  spir- 
itual, and  represents  it,  and  when  interpreted  by  the  laws  of 
that  correspondence,  indicates  its  cause. 


OF    THE    WORD. 

One  of  the  purposes  of  Providence  in  so  constituting  and 
correlating  the  things  He  causes  to  be,  is,  that  the  world  out- 
side of  man  may  instruct  him  concerning  the  world  within ; 
that  things  subject  to  time  and  space  may  tell  him  of  things 
which  time  and  space  do  not  hold  in  bondage  ;  that  this  be- 
ginning of  being  may  be  preparatory  for  that  state  or  mode 
of  being  to  which  it  is  introductory.  And  because  both  of 
these  worlds,  the  spiritual  and  the  material,  consist  of  an  in- 
definite amount  of  things  and  forces  operating  among  them, 

2    ^ 


18  THE   WORD. 

—  the  things  and  the  forces  of  the  one  corresponding  to  the 
things  and  the  forces  of  the  other, —  the  amount  of  the  instruc- 
tion thus  given  has  no  limit,  and  there  will  be  none  to  the 
knowledge  thus,  step  by  step,  to  be  acquired. 

It  has,  however,  pleased  our  Father  to  offer  to  His  children 
yet  other  aid ;  to  come  to  their  minds  by  a  yet  other  instru- 
ment. His  wisdom,  in  itself  wholly  inconceivable,  finites  and 
limits  itself  in  the  human  understanding,  that  it  may  there 
be  the  man's  own  understanding.  It  also  finites  and  limits 
itself  in  a  wiitten  Word,  perfectly  accommodated  to  the 
human  understanding.  It  has  done  this  by  means  of  Inspira- 
tion and  of  Correspondence. 

Inspiration  cannot  be  understood,  excepting  as  life  is 
understood.  Man  lives  because  he  has  within  his  material 
^body  a  spiritual  body  with  organs  and  members  and  all  other 
things  which  compose  a  living  body,  even  to  the  minutest 
fibres  or  cells.  This  spiritual  body  lives ;  and  it  imparts  life 
to  the  material  body  ;  for  all  the  organs  and  all  the  parts,  great 
or  small,  of  the  spiritual  body,  are  clothed  upon  by  the  similar 
organs  and  parts  of  the  material  body.  It  is  always  the  spir- 
itual eye  which  sees  ;  or,  more  accurately,  it  is  always  through 
his  spiritual  eye  that  the  man  sees.  But  he  sees  also 
through  the  material  eye,  which  clothes  the  spiritual  eye. 
So  when  he  puts  a  glass  lens  to  his  material  eye,  he  sees 
through  the  lens  also.  The  lens  does  not  see,  but  the  eye 
behind  it  sees  through  the  lens  and  by  means  of  it ;  and  the 
material  eye  does  not  see,  but  the  spiritual  eye  within  it  sees. 
The  lens  enables  the  eye  to  see  things  it  could  not  see  with- 
out it ;  and  it  prevents  the  eye  from  seeing  things  not  properly 
placed  and  suited  to  the  lens.  So  the  material  eye  enables 
the  spiritual  eye  within  to  see  material  things  and  bodies 
which  it  could  not  see  without  the  material  eye ;  and  it  pre- 
vents the  spiritual  eye  from  seeing  spiritual  tilings,  because 
they  are  not  suited  or  adapted  to  the  material  organ.  At 
death  all  this  changes.     The  spiritual  body  rises  from  the 


TEE  SPIRITUAL  BODY.  19 

material  body;  and  therefore  the  material  body  lives  no 
longer.  And  the  spiritual  eye  loses  its  material  organ  or  in- 
strument, and  loses  the  power  of  seeing  material  things.  But 
it  then  possesses  the  power  of  seeing  spiritual  things ;  for  it 
was  always  an  instrument  perfectly  adapted  to  the  faculty 
of  sight  possessed  by  the  soul  or  the  man,  just  as  the  material 
eye  is  an  instrument  adapted  to  the  spiritual  eye  while  the 
man  lives  in  a  material  body  and  in  this  material  world. 
Without  the  material  eye,  which  is  withdrawn  by  death, 
spirits  no  more  see  us  who  are  still  here  than  we  see  them. 
We  have  our  own  material  world,  and  our  material  eyes 
through  which  we  may  see  that  material  world.  They  have 
their  own  spiritual  world,  formed  of  the  same  spiritual  sub- 
stance of  which  their  spiritual  bodies  and  aU  its  organs  are 
formed;  and  their  spiritual  world  is  therefore  precisely  ad- « 
apted  to  their  spiritual  organs,  as  our  material  world  is 
adapted  to  our  material  organs. 

But  even  while  we  live  here,  it  is  possible,  if  so  Divine 
Providence  wills,  that  the  material  organs  cease  for  a  time  to 
be  an  obstruction  to  the  sight  of  spiritual  things.  Then  we 
see  —  or  we  may  hear  or  feel  —  what  we  should  see  or  hear 
or  feel  if  we  had  left  the  body.  This  change  may  take  place 
with  one  organ  and  not  another.  If  it  be  the  eye,  we  see 
spirits  and  spiritual  things.  If  it  be  the  ear,  we  hear  spiritual 
voices,  or  music,  or  other  sounds.  Or  it  may  be  both  these 
organs,  or  all  the  organs. 

It  was  in  this  way,  or  by  this  change,  that  men  saw  angels 
in  the  instances  recorded  in  Scripture,  and  that  they  see 
spirits  or  spiritual  things  whenever  that  takes  place. 

But  if  all  human  life  is  essentially  spiritual,  —  material  life 
being  only  the  clothing  and  instrument  of  spiritual  life,  or  of 
the  soul's  life,  —  the  question  then  comes,  But  what  is  this 
spiritual  life,  this  life  of  the  soul?  whence  does  it  come? 
what  is  it  in  its  origin? 

To  answer  this  question,  we  begin  with  saying,  that  there 


20  HUMAN  LIFE. 

are  two  fundamental  facts  of  human  life,  whether  in  heaven 
or  on  the  earth.  Of  these,  the  first  is,  that  our  life  is  God's 
life,  given  to  us,  and  received  by  us.  The  second  is,  that  the 
Divine  life  is  so  given  to  us,  that  it  does,  in  point  of  fact,  and 
most  actually,  become  our  own  life. 

From  the  first  of  these  facts  we  may  learn,  that  the  Divine 
life,  consisting  of  love  and  wisdom,  flows  as  love  into  the 
human  will  (which  is  created  a  form  or  vessel  recipient  of 
love),  and  there  becomes  the  man's  own,  and  is  whatever 
love,  desire,  affection,  or  impulse,  good  or  bad  or  mingled,  it 
must  become  or  be  made  to  be,  by  being  his  own.  So  it 
flows  as  wisdom  into  his  understanding  (which  is  created  a 
form  receptive  of  wisdom),  and  there  becomes  his  own,  and 
80  becomes  whatever  of  thought,  opinion,  belief,  or  imagina- 
tion, true  or  false  or  mingled,  it  must  become  by  being  his 
own.  This  is  human  life,  —  human  will  and  human  imder- 
standing,  —  and  the  man  thus  living  is  free  to  do  or  to  say  or 
to  be  whatever  he  chooses  to  do  or  say  or  be. 

Inspiration  comes  when  this  Divine  wisdom  flows  into  the 
understanding  of  the  man,  but  does  not  become  his  own. 
The  influent  wisdom,  then,  so  far  as  its  purposes  require,  uses 
the  senses,  the  mind,  the  memory,  the  thoughts  and  habits  of 
thinking,  the  beliefs  and  the  imaginations  of  the  man,  as  well 
as  his  hands  and  fingers ;  but  uses  them  all  to  effect  its  own 
purposes.  Because  all  lower  and  sensuous  knowledges, 
thoughts,  and  images  correspond  to  those  which  are  higher, 
the  influent  wisdom  uses  whatever  it  finds  in  the  man's  mind, 
to  express  higher  and  spiritual  truths ;  to  express  them  by 
means  of  the  knowledges  and  facts,  the  thoughts  and  images, 
to  which  these  higher  and  spiritual  truths  correspond. 

Let  me  take  this  opportunity  to  illustrate  what  I  consider 
the  character  and  function  of  Swedenborg,  not  by  comparison, 
but  by  contrast  with  that  of  the  inspired  writers  of  the  Word. 
He  would  have  disclaimed  nothing  more  earnestly  than  his 
own  inspiration.    I  regard  him  as  a  man   of  remarkable 


SWEDENBORG.  21 

ability,  and  great  and  varied  culture ;  taught,  as  no  other  man 
ever  was  taught,  truths  which  no  other  man  ever  learned ; 
and  he  was  thus  instructed  that  he  might  introduce  among 
men  a  new  system  of  truth  or  doctrine,  excelling  in  charac- 
ter and  exceeding  in  value  any  system  of  truth  ever  before 
known ;  a  new  gift  demanding,  as  the  instrument  by  which  it 
could  be  communicated,  a  man  possessing  not  only  extraor- 
dinary capacity  and  cultivation,  but  in  both  capacity  and 
cultivation  definitely  adapted  to  the  peculiar  work  he  had  to 
do.  But  this  work  was,  to  learn  the  truth  himself,  and  teach 
it  to  others,  in  his  own  freedom ;  therefore,  in  his  own  lia- 
bility to  error,  and  with  the  limitations  of  his  own  intellect : 
for,  however  well  suited  he  was  to  his  work,  it  was  his  own 
work;  and  his  books  are  only  human  books,  infinitely  far 
from  that  Word  of  Grod  which  was  written  by  Inspiration. 

Because  the  correspondence  between  the  things  of  this 
lower  plane  and  the  things  of  the  higher  plane  is,  in  itself, 
perfect,  however  imperfect  it  may  be  in  our  apprehension  of 
it.  Divine  wisdom  is  able  to  give  to  this  outermost  and  ulti- 
mate expression  of  itself,  —  to  this  letter  of  Scripture,  this 
Divine  Word  which  may  be  read  or  heard  by  man,  —  certain 
qualities. 

Of  these,  the  first  is,  that  this  literal  Word  is  a  body,  a 
definite  expression,  of  Divine  Wisdom,  and  an  adequate  in- 
strument of  Divine  Love. 

The  second  is,  that  this  Wisdom,  by  means  of  this  instru- 
ment, comes  down  to  man  in  all  conditions,  as  command, 
reproof,  or  instruction,  and  gives  to  him  precisely  what  he 
needs  in  that  condition  for  his  improvement  and  his  happi- 
ness. 

The  third  is,  that  while  the  Divine  truth  is  thus  embodied 
in  all  its  own  infinity  in  a  truth  apprehensible  by  man,  this 
truth  is  precisely  that  which,  being  obeyed  in  its  lowest  form 
if  it  be  a  command,  or  learned  and  made  fertile  by  medita- 
tion if  it  be  instruction,  will  gradually  lift  up  the  mind  to  a 


22         THOU  SHALT  NOT  STEAL. 

perception  of  the  higher  truths  which  lie  within;  and  will 
lift  up  the  affections  to  a  love  of  them. 

Let  me  illustrate  this  statement  by  a  simj^le  example.  I 
wiU  take  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal."  This  is  first  addressed  as 
positive  prohibition  to  the  man  who  loves  to  steal,  and  would 
steal  if  not  prohibited  by  a  power  he  feared.  It  cannot  find 
man  in  a  lower  condition.  But,  "  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the 
beginning  of  wisdom ; "  and  if  the  man  obeys  this  law  be- 
cause it  is  the  law  of  God,  he  cannot  but  gradually  acquire 
some  perception  that  this  command  forbids  all  dishonesty, 
and  requires  all  honesty.  A  regard  to  the  law  in  this  sense 
will  open  and  elevate  his  mind  still  farther.  He  will  see 
more  and  more  clearly  what  honesty  is,  and  what  honesty 
requires.  He  wiU  begin  to  see  that  it  covers  aU  possible  re- 
lations between  man  and  man.  And  earnest  endeavors  to 
apply  this  knowledge  to  life  will  lead  him  to  look  yet  higher; 
he  will  see  that  the  requirements  of  honesty  apply  also  to  the 
relations  between  man  and  God.  Then,  it  will  be  the  effort 
of  his  mind  to  see,  and  of  his  life  to  do  and  be,  what  honesty 
requires  in  all  these  relations.  He  will  try  to  give  unto  God 
aU  that  is  His ;  "  to  give  unto  Him  the  glory,"  or  to  acknowl- 
edge that  all  the  good  and  all  the  wisdom  that  he  finds  in 
himself  come  from  God.  He  will  seek  to  discriminate  be- 
tween what  is  good  and  what  is  evil,  what  is  true  and  what  is 
false,  in  his  own  mind  and  his  own  life.  And  as  he  renders 
unto  God  the  fullest  acknowledgment  that  all  this  good  and 
truth  are  His  gifts,  he  will  feel  it  as  a  duty,  that  all  the  good 
and  the  true  thus  laid  as  sacrifices  upon  His  altar  be  without 
spot  or  blemish.  And  earnest  persistence  in  this  effort  will 
bear  him  onward  to  the  next  step,  —  the  last.  That  which 
was  a  duty  will  be  a  delight ;  for  he  will  love  it,  and  find 
his  highest  happiness  in  recognizing  in  all  that  is  good  in 
his  own  life,  the  gift,  the  inflowing,  the  presence,  of  Good- 
ness itself.  He  will  begin  to  taste  the  highest  happiness  of 
heaven. 


THE  WORD.  23 

This  very  plain  command  I  have  selected  as  an  example 
for  Ulustration,  because  of  its  plainness  and  simplicity.  But 
similar  things  may  be  said  of  every  part  of  the  Word. 

The  fourth  quahty  thus  given  to  the  literal  sense  of  the 
Word  is  this.  It  comes  down  to  man  in  his  lowest  condition, 
and  in  every  possible  condition.  It  is  a  portraiture  of  God ; 
and  the  truth  it  teaches  has  been  well  compared  to  the  eye 
of  a  portrait,  which  follows  one  who  looks  at  it  wherever  he 
goes,  and,  if  the  room  be  fuU,  looks  so  directly  upon  each 
man  there,  that  it  almost  seems  to  look  on  liim  alone.  It 
does  see,  it  does  find,  it  does  look  directly  at  every  man  in 
this  crowded  world ;  for  this  truth  is  infinite  and  all-embra- 
cing. Doctrines  are  such  general  and  universal  truths  as  are 
tme  always  and  for  all,  and  such  as  all  men  need  to  know, 
and  such  as  are  therefore  given  in  forms  apprehensible  by 
all.  They  are  therefore  given  in  the  literal  sense  of  the 
Word ;  and  all  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  rest  upon 
this  literal  sense.  But,  if  the  illustration  of  one  command- 
ment, just  above  attempted,  was  intelligible,  it  may  be  be- 
lieved that  the  spiritual  sense  may  give  continuous  and 
unending  enlargement  and  elevation  of  meaning  and  of  scope 
to  all  true  doctrine,  and  confirmation  and  illustration  from  all 
the  regions  of  thought  and  of  knowledge. 

A  fifth  quality  was  given  to  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word 
wherever  that  was  possible ;  and  that  is  literal  truth :  but 
this  was  not  always  possible ;  and  the  literal  sense  is  only 
for  the  most  part,  but  not  in  all  its  parts,  literally  true.  Per- 
sons were  selected  as  the  subjects  of  inspiration,  w'hose  minds 
could  supply  the  facts  or  thoughts  and  images  which  were 
needed,  "\^^lere  these  were  historical,  they  were  used  as  they 
lay  in  the  memory  of  the  writers,  if  they  were  adapted  to 
the  use  for  which  they  were  employed.  Sometimes  they 
were  not  in  conformity  with  the  actual  external  facts.  Thus 
Swedenborg  tells  us  that  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis,  as  far 
as  to  the  mention  of  the  immediate  ancestors  of  Abraham, 


24  TEE  TRUTH  OF  TEE  LITERAL  SENSE. 

were  taken  from  an  earlier  Word,  which  was  written  by  cor- 
respondences, but  was  not  true  as  a  narrative  of  facts. 
Hence  these  chapters  do  not  contain  a  history  of  the  creation 
of  the  material  world.  But  under  this  form  they  contain  a 
history  of  the  creation  of  a  spiritual  world ;  a  creation  which 
belongs  to  the  present  as  well  as  to  the  past.  These  chapters 
also  describe  the  spiritual  condition  of  mankind  in  early 
ages ;  their  primitive  innocence  and  subsequent  corruption ; 
the  churches  which  in  succession  lived  and  died ;  and  they 
also  describe  affections  and  thoughts,  beliefs  and  principles, 
motives  and  mental  conditions,  which  exist  to-day,  and  will 
exist  while  man  exists.  So,  too,  in  the  subsequent  history, 
such  statements  as  that  the  sun  stood  still  in  Gibeon,  and  the 
moon  in  Ajalon,  have  no  literal  truth ;  and  the  same  thing 
may  be  said  of  the  numbers  of  the  children  of  Israel,  and  of 
many  facts  against  which  science  is  now  in  arms.  But  when 
all  is  said  that  ever  can  be  said  in  this  way,  the  literal  sense 
of  those  passages  from  which  doctrines  may  be  drawn,  and 
the  spiritual  sense  of  the  whole,  remain  unaffected. 

One  of  the  difficulties  with  those  who  consider  the  ques- 
tion of  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  is,  that  if 
this  be  admitted  as  to  the  original  composition,  how  can  it  be 
as  to  the  copies  which  differ  so  much  from  each  other,  and  as 
to  the  translations  which  are  often  so  inadequate,  and  some- 
times so  uncertain. 

Let  us  not  forget  the  marvellous  accuracy  —  so  it  seems  to 
me  —  with  which  the  originals  of  the  Old  Testament  have 
been  preserved.  The  veneration  of  the  Jews  for  their  Scrip- 
tures, and  the  enthusiastic  care  and  patient  labor  to  secure 
minute  accuracy  in  the  copying  of  every  word  and  every 
letter,  are  well  known.  The  effect  is,  that  there  are  no 
various  readings  of  the  Old  Testament  which  affect  its  mean- 
ing sensibly.  The  Greek  Septuagint  differs  often,  and  some- 
times materially,  from  the  Hebrew ;  and  the  translations  into 
other  languages  are  not  unfrequently  of  doubtful  accuracy. 


THE  PRESERVATION  OF  THE  WORD.  25 

As  to  the  New  Testament,  the  text  has  not  been  so  carefully 
preserved.  The  different  readings  are  numbered  by  thou- 
sands. But  most  of  them  are  exceedingly  minute  and  insig- 
nificant ;  and  it  is,  I  think,  an  extraordinary  fact,  that  so  very 
few  have  any  important  bearing  on  the  meaning.  It  should 
perhaps  be  mentioned  here,  that  Swedenborg  includes  as 
strictly  within  the  New  Testament,  only  the  Gospels  and  the 
Apocalypse ;  because  the  epistles,  although  most  valuable  for 
instruction,  were  not  written  by  inspiration,  or  with  a  con- 
tinuous correspondence. 

The  more  general  answer  to  the  difficulty  I  suppose  to  be 
this.  Just  as  Inspiration  itself  used  all  it  could  find  in  its 
subjects,  and  submitted  to  the  necessity  of  saying  some  things 
"  for  the  hardness  of  their  hearts,"  and  many  things  without 
a  true  literal  foundation,  —  because  always  and  in  the  whole 
working  of  Providence  human  freedom  is  respected  as  far  as 
possible,  —  60,  for  the  same  reason,  the  Word  has  been  de- 
livered to  men,  and  effectually  protected  only  from  those 
falsifications  of  its  letter  which  would  materially  distort  the 
representation ;  but  from  these  it  has  been  protected. 

In  subsequent  pages  I  shall  have  much  to  say,  and  to  repeat 
in  various  connections,  of  the  law  which  infinite  love  imposes 
on  itself;  —  the  law  that  the  freedom  of  man  must  be  pre- 
served, that  the  purposes  of  God  may  be  accomplished. 


-26  WHAT  IHE   GOSPELS  ABE. 


CHAPTER  II. 

OFTHEGOSPELS. 

The  Gospels  are  given  as  instructors  in  religious  truth.  The 
religion  they  teach  is  Christianity.  Without  them  men  could 
not  have  possessed  Christianity.  And  what  Christianity  is  in 
any  age  or  nation  or  church  or  mind  depends  entirely  upon 
what  the  Gospels  are  to  that  age  or  nation  or  church  or  mind. 
Before  the  Gospels  there  was  religion ;  and  there  is  religion 
now  where  the  Gospels  are  unknown.  But  religion  without 
the  Gospels,  whatever  else  it  be,  is  not  Christianity ;  for  there 
can  be  no  Christianity  without  some  reception  and  some 
understanding  of  the  Gospels. 

There  are  many  ways  in  which  the  Gospels  may  be  and 
have  been  viewed ;  but  all  of  them  come  under  one  or  other 
of  two  classes.  In  like  manner  all  the  many  ways  in  which 
Christianity  has  been  or  may  be  viewed,  arrange  themselves 
in  one  or  other  of  two  great  classes.  The  supernatural 
element  may  be  acknowledged,  or  it  may  be  denied.  Where 
it  is  acknowledged,  there  may  be  a  right  or  a  wrong  under- 
standing of  Christian  doctrines ;  where  it  is  denied  there  is 
no  Christianity  whatever. 

There  are  many  reasons  why  those  who  have  in  reality  no 
faith  in  Christianity  should  be  unwilling  to  confess  this  to 
themselves,  and  more  unwilling  to  confess  it  to  others.  They 
endeavor,  therefore,  to  call  unbelief  by  the  name  of  belief,  and 
give  to  it  the  aspect  of  belief;  and  every  view  of  Christianity 
which  admits  it  as  a  fact,  and  then  excludes  the  supernatural 
element,  is  an  endeavor  of  this  kind. 


NATURALISM.  27 

This  has  been  carried  much  farther  of  late  years  than  ever 
before.  There  are  those  who  profess  to  accept  the  Gospels 
in  this  way  as  records  of  the  words  and  acts  of  Christ,  and  to 
believe  a  Christianity  founded  on  them.  But,  through  the 
Gospels,  equally  through  all  of  them,  runs  a  perpetual  attri- 
bution of  supernatural  character,  power  and  action  to  Jesus 
Christ.  Such  persons  must  get  rid  of  this ;  and  by  various 
arguments  and  conjectures,  as  various  as  the  various  declara- 
tions of  the  Gospels  require,  they  succeed,  to  their  own 
satisfaction,  in  eliminating  from  all  the  Gospels,  from  Jesus 
Christ,  from  all  His  words  and  all  His  acts,  everything  which 
is  more  or  other  than  it  might  have  been  by  natural  causes 
and  natural  means. 

Quite  recently  this  process  has  reached  its  consummation. 
In  Renan's  Life  of  Christ,  an  able  and  eloquent  man  speaks 
of  Jesus  Avith  the  warmest  admiration,  and  professes  to  regard 
His  words  as  those  of  one  who  spake  as  no  other  man  spake, 
and  His  doctrines  of  morality  and  life  as  the  highest,  the 
truest  and  the  most  efficacious  of  good  that  ever  were  uttered. 
He  never  offends  by  sneers  or  cold  contempt  of  the  believer, 
and  clothes  his  book  with  all  the  attractions  of  literary  ex- 
cellence. But,  with  all  this,  the  supernatural  element  must,  at 
all  events,  in  some  way  or  other,  be  eliminated ;  for  this  pur- 
pose alone  this  book  was  written;  and  unless  it  be  accom- 
plished this  book  cannot  become,  what  it  was  intended  and 
constructed  to  be,  the  Gospel  of  all  who  are  asking  for 
something  which  shall  reconcile  absolute  naturalism  with 
religion. 

This  supreme  necessity  comes  at  once  into  antagonism  with 
the  most  explicit  declarations  and  the  most  prominent  acts  of 
Christ ;  as,  for  example,  the  raising  of  Lazarus  from  the 
dead.  This,  therefore,  must  be  explained  in  accordance  with 
naturalism ;  and  this  necessity  compels  this  admirer  of  Jesus 
Christ  to  impute  to  this  man  of  consummate  wisdom  the 
utmost  weakness  and  blindness  ;  to  present  Him  as  a  virtuous 


28  NATURALISM. 

and  honest  man  who  is  gulled  and  managed  by  disciples  and 
friends ;  to  present  these  disciples  and  friends  as  having  so 
much  faith  in  Him  as  to  sacrifice  aU  for  His  sake,  and  so 
little  faith  in  Him  that  they  lie  and  cheat  Him  into  tricks 
which  may  strengthen  Him  with  the  multitude.  The  raising 
of  Lazarus  was  one  of  these.  Jesus  truly  believed  him  to  be 
dead,  and  endeavored  to  raise  him  from  the  dead,  and  believed 
that  He  had  done  so;  while  in  fact,  Lazarus,  Martha  and 
Mary  had  conspired  to  play  this  trick,  in  order  to  cheat  not 
only  the  bystanders,  —  but  Jesus  Christ  Himself! 

I  have  nothing  to  say  of  the  utter  irrationality  of  any  such 
explanation  of  the  Gospels,  or  of  the  marvellous  power  of  a 
determined  purpose,  as  it  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  such  a 
purpose  could  have  persuaded  a  man  of  Kenan's  intelligence 
to  consider  such  views  rational ;  or  have  convinced  such  men 
as  now  accept  Kenan's  theory  (and .they  are  many),  that  they 
may  honestly  call  an  acceptance  of  this  theory,  an  acceptance 
of  Christianity  and  the  Christian  Gospels. 

El  a  future  chapter,  when  I  reach  the  subject  of  the 
miracles  of  Christ,  I  shall  say  what  I  can  of  the  supernatural 
and  the  natural,  and  the  relations  between  them.  I  would 
now  only  say,  that  through  my  book  I  shall  endeavor  to  dis- 
cern and  to  exhibit  the  supernatural  element  in  all  the  Gospel 
history,  always  in  connection  with  the  natural  upon  which  it 
rests  as  its  foundation  and  ultimate.  As  the  Gospels  purport 
to  relate  the  words  and  acts  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  be  a 
record  of  His  life,  it  has  become  a  favorite  method  of  exhibit- 
ing views  held  of  the  Gospels  and  of  Christianity,  to  do 
this  in  a  Life  of  Jesus.  Hence  this  life  has  been  written 
often,  and  in  many  ways ;  for  all  who  caU  themselves  Chris- 
tians must  found  their  peculiar  opinions,  whatever  they  may 
be,  upon  the  acts  and  words  of  Christ.  All  diversity  of  doc- 
trine arises  from  a  similar  diversity  in  regard  to  those  acts  and 
words ;  and  only  by  the  view  taken  of  those  acts  and  words 
can  these  opinions  be  justified;  and  therefore  attempts  have 


THE  NEW  JERUSALEM.  29 

frequently  been  made  to  exhibit  and  establish  these  views, 
of  the  events  of  His  life,  of  His  words,  and  of  the  nature 
and  character  they  present,  and  to  draw  thence  by  way  of 
inference,  certain  doctrines. 

I  believe  that  the  Church  foretold  in  the  Apocalypse  under 
the  name  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  has  descended  out  of  heaven 
upon  earth,  and  is  beginning  to  live  upon  earth;  and  that 
Emanuel  Swedenborg  has  disclosed  in  his  theological  writings 
the  truths  and  principles  upon  which  this  Church  must 
rest. 

It  follows  that  I  shall  endeavor  to  state  and  illustrate  as 
well  as  I  am  able,  the  Gospels,  and  the  views  of  the  acts  and 
"words  of  Jesus  Christ  which  I  derive  from  the  Gospels, 
and  from  the  "  Law  and  the  Prophets"  as  they  treat  of  Him, 
by  applying  to  the  Bible  the  truths  and  principles  taught  by 
Swedenborg. 

I  propose  to  make  but  a  small  book  about  a  subject  of  vast 
magnitude.  Labors  which  it  is  my  duty  to  perform,  leave 
unoccupied  but  a  fragmentary  portion  of  my  time  and  thought ; 
and  if  I  could  give  to  it  all  my  time  and  thought,  I  have  not 
sufficient  knowledge  and  ability  to  do  this  work  as  it  should 
be  done.  But  I  may  indicate,  perhaps,  how  such  a  work 
might  be  done,  and  what  would  be  its  effect  and  instruction, 
if  better  done. 

I  assume,  without  the  slightest  effort  to  prove  it,  that  the 
Bible  may  be  believed ;  and  for  them  only  who  agree  with 
me  on  this  point  do  I  write. 

The  central  truth  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  I 
suppose  to  be  that  which  teaches  the  relation  of  our  Lord  to 
the  Bible.  These  doctrines  teach  that  this  relation  is  some- 
thing more  and  other  than  has  ever  before  been  distinctly 
declared. 

While  our  Lord  was  on  earth,  He  frequently  referred  to 
passages  of  the  Old  Testament  as  predictive  of  His  own  states 


80  ■  THE  INCARNATION. 

or  acts.  But  after  He  rose  from  the  sepulchre,  He  said  unto 
the  two  disciples  whom  He  joined  on  their  way  to  Emmaus, 
"  O  fools,  and  slow  of  heart  to  believe  all  that  the  prophets 
have  spoken !  Ought  not  Christ  to  have  suffered  these  things, 
and  to  enter  into  His  glory  ?  And  beginning  at  Moses,  and 
all  the  prophets  ?  He  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scrip- 
tures, things  concerning  Himself." 

Here  we  have  a  positive  assertion,  that  "  Moses  and  all  the 
prophets,"  or  "  all  the  Scriptures,"  contain  things  concerning 
Him.  But  the  doctrine  of  the  New  Church  declares  what 
may  seem  to  be  more  than  the  verses  cited  declare ;  namely, 
that  all  things  in  all  the  Scriptures  concern  Him ;  that  the 
whole  Scripture,  in  all  its  parts,  refers  to  Him  ;  that  the  Word 
of  God,  as  a  book,  is  identical  with,  and  in  no  part  removed 
or  separated  from,  the  living  and  personal  Word  of  God ; 
that  the  written  Word  of  God  is  the  Book  of  the  Life  of  the 
personal  Word  of  God. 

This  cannot  be  shown  by  the  literal  sense  of  this  Word. 
In  some  parts  of  this  sense  it  may  be  apparent ;  in  more  it 
may  be  discovered ;  but  in  a  very  large  portion  of  the  literal 
sense,  as  in  nearly  all  that  is  merely  historical  or  ritual,  this 
meaning  cannot  be  seen,  unless  a  spiritual  sense  is  admitted. 
And  probably  nothing  is  more  universally  known  about  the 
New  Church,  where  anything  is  known  of  it,  than  that  it 
asserts  that  the  literal  sense  of  the  Bible  bears  throughout  a 
spiritual  sense. 

It  is  now  something  more  than  a  hundred  years  since  the 
New  Church  began  in  Heaven,  and  by  descent  from  Heaven 
upon  earth.  Since  then,  this  church  has  exerted  some  in- 
fluence outside  of  itself,  in  the  modification  of  common  opinion 
and  belief.  It  has  done  this  through  its  books  and  preaching ; 
and  impressions  thus  made  have  passed  through  minds  to 
other  minds ;  until  in  many  cases,  while  the  impression  is 
strong,  and  shows  itself  in  the  productions  issuing  from  the 
minds  which  have  received  it,  it  is  obvious  that  its  origin  was 
wholly  unknown. 


HOW  THE  BIBLE  IS  BE  GARBED.  31 

Moreover,  the  church  in  the  heavens,  which  is  growing 
gradually  there  as  it  grows  on  earth,  is  not  inoperative. 
Always  the  influence  of  the  heavens  respects  the  freedom  of 
men,  and  works  through  that  freedom  ;  and  while  it  leads  and 
bends,  never  forces  or  overwhelms  human  minds.  And  in 
many  ways  this  influence  has  been  exerted  to  construct  the 
new  earth  which  is  to  be  a  proper  basis  for  the  new  heaven. 
And  to  this  end  all  the  influences  of  this  church  on  earth  and 
in  heaven  co-operate. 

One  of  the  eflfects  thus  produced  seems  to  me  a  preparation 
for  a  wider  reception  among  religious  men,  of  this  doc- 
trine of  a  spiritual  sense  of  Scripture ;  and  I  have  already 
referred  to  it  as  having  that  effect. 

The  religious  world  may  now  be  considered  as  divided  into 
three  classes.  Those  who  hold  to  the  literal  Bible  sternly 
and  without  compromise,  and  believing  that  its  every  word 
must  be  true  (or  that  if  any  untruth  be  in  it  its  whole  char- 
acter is  changed  and  its  whole  authority  lost),  declare  that 
wherever  science  contradicts  it,  it  is  science  which  must  be 
mistaken ;  and  they  look  to  the  farther  development  and 
improvement  of  science,  for  that  rejection  of  its  present  con- 
clusions, which  will  bring  it  back  into  harmony  with  the 
inspired  Scriptures. 

Secondly,  those  who  adopt  some  form  of  what  passes  under 
the  general  name  of  Rationalism,  and  believing  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  religious  truth,  believe  also  that  human  reason 
is  fully  able  to  discover  it  and  apply  it  to  life  without  super- 
natural aid ;  and  that  no  such  aid  has  ever  been  given ;  and 
that  the  Bible  is  only  a  most  excellent  book,  of  human  com- 
position, and  liable  to  human  error,  although  on  the  whole 
containing  a  great  preponderance  of  salutary  truth.  It  is  no 
uncommon  thing  for  such  persons  to  say  something  like  this : 
"  Yes ;  the  writers  of  the  Bible  were  inspired :  and  so  were 
Plato,  and  Newton,  and  Shakespeare." 

The  third  class  consists  of  those  who  hold  firmly  to  their 


82  INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

Bible,  and  cannot  doubt  that  its  writers  were  so  inspired  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  that  they  wrote  the  words  of  God,  and 
that  these  must  be  true.  But  at  the  same  time  they  cannot 
deny  some  of  the  conclusions  of  science ;  and  they  appreciate 
some  of  its  probabilities,  and  discern  the  dissonance  between 
these  and  the  Scriptures  in  their  literal  sense.  And  there- 
fore they  hope  that  some  way  will  be  discovered  to  reconcile 
these  two  apparent  opposites.  They  hope,  in  the  words  of 
John  Robinson  of  Leyden,  who  more  than  any  other  man 
may  be  regarded  as  the  religious  founder  of  New  England, 
that  "  new  and  brighter  light  is  yet  destined  to  break  forth 
from  the  Word  of  God:"  and  they  see  no  other  basis  for 
this  hope,  than  the  doctrine  of  a  spiritual  sense  of  this 
Word. 

They  who  hold  this  hope  are  of  course  encouraged  by  the 
fact  that  in  the  early  ages  of  Christianity,  and  indeed  far 
down  in  its  history,  this  belief  was  common  among  the  fathers. 
But  this  encouragement  is  weakened  by  the  other  fact,  that 
the  fathers  of  the  church,  in  their  attempts  to  discover  and 
disclose  this  spiritual  sense,  were  guided  by  no  distinct  method 
or  system  or  principles,  and  wandered  into  inconsistencies  and 
puerilities.  And  there  are  strong  and  instructed  minds  in 
the  Old  Church,  who,  without  using,  or  at  least  without  ac- 
knowledging any  aid  from  the  New  Church,  seem  to  be  now 
laboring  to  devise  a  system  of  interpretation,  which  shall 
avoid  the  illusions  which  they  fear,  and  give  them  the  light 
they  seek. 

Another  circumstance  which  we  think  will  assist  the  recog- 
nition of  a  correspondence  between  the  things  of  the  spiritual 
universe  and  the  things  of  the  material  universe,  is  that  at  this 
time  natural  science  is  advancing  upon  a  line  which,  while  ap- 
parently distinct  from  these  endeavors  after  a  spiritual  sense, 
and  wholly  irrelevant  to  them,  is  yet  a  converging  line, 
which  may  soon  meet  these  inquirers  after  religious  truth: 
for  a  scientific  dogma,  to  which  I  have  already  referred,  has 


REASON  IN  NATURE.       '  33 

recently  been  freely  asserted  by  master-minds  in  science,  and, 
1  telieve,  widely  adopted,  which  may  supply  these  inquirers 
with  precisely  the  principle  they  need. 

This  dogma  is  the  presence  and  activity  of  Reason  in 
Nature. 

It  is  now  certain  that  astronomy  altogether,  and  many  nat- 
ural sciences  in  a  less  degree,  and  nearly  all  of  them  in  some 
degree,  can  be  seen  to  rest  on  the  assumption,  that  whatever 
the  human  mind  can  discover,  and  demonstrate  by  logical  and 
geometrical  methods  to  be  certain  and  inevitable  laws  of  human 
reason,  these  are  found  to  be  the  certain  and  absolute  laws  of 
the  material  universe.  I  do  not  pause  to  cite  instances.  But 
any  one  who  reads  these  lines,  and  will  remember  what  is 
the  foundation  and  instrument  of  astronomy,  for  example,  will 
see  that  this  science  depends,  both  for  its  certainty  and  for 
its  progress,  upon  the  discovery,  development,  and  rigorous 
demonstration  of  the  geometrical  laws  of  reason,  and  the 
assumption  that  they  are  the  absolute  directors  of  the  material 
universe. 

All  men  who  see  this  will  admit  that  this  reason,  in  man 
and  in  nature,  is  one ;  and  this  truth  is  now  forcing  itself 
into  acceptance.  But  here,  too,  the  freedom  of  the  human 
intellect  is  preserved ;  and  he  who  loves  infidelity  will  be  able 
to  infer  that  the  universe,  within  man  and  without  man,  is  but 
a  stupendous  macliinery,  which  goes  on  in  perfect  independence 
and  self-sufficiency,  with  no  need  of,  and  no  help  or  control 
from,  any  other  power ;  and  there  are  eminent  men  who  now 
make  this  perversion  of  this  truth. 

But  the  religious  man  will  be  more  disposed  to  conclude, 
that  this  One  Reason  must  be  the  Reason  of  the  One  God ; 
that  it  comes  down  to  the  mind  of  man,  and  clothes  itself  and 
operates  in  and  by  all  the  laws  and  forms  and  activities  of 
thought ;  and  that  it  comes  down  into  the  external  universe, 
and  clothes  itself  and  operates  in  and  by  all  the  laws  and 
forms  and  activities  of  matter.     And  then  he  may  be  pre- 

3 


34  BEASON  IN  NATURE. 

pared  to  see,  that  these  two  forms,  effects  and  manifestations 
of  the  One  Reason  stand  in  absolute  and  necessary  correla- 
tion and  correspondence  with  each  other. 

When  this  is  clearly  seen  and  known,  —  and  that  time  must 
come,  —  the  science  which  teaches  this  correspondence  will 
rest  upon  exact  and  rigorous  demonstration ;  and  it  will  be 
seen  to  be  the  centre  and  the  life  of  all  science.  Then  every 
truth  that  shall  be  discovered  and  established  concerning  any 
entity  or  force  or  law  in  the  universe,  will  be  acknowledged 
as  having  the  character,  in  some  degree  at  least,  of  a  univer- 
sal truth ;  rational  efforts  will  be  made  to  extend  its  appli- 
cation and  utility ;  and  thus,  gradually  and  successively,  the 
darkest  corners  of  the  universe  of  mind  and  the  universe  of 
matter  will  be  explored  and  investigated. 

With  these  high  aspirations  and  unbounded  hopes  I  have 
nothing  now  to  do ;  I  have  only  to  use  the  Science  of  Corre- 
spondence in  its  reference  to  the  written  Word.  Here,  the 
fundamental  truth,  as  stated  and  shown  by  Swedenborg,  is, 
that  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Word  is  continuous  and  perfect. 
This  is  clothed  by  a  literal  or  natural  sense,  which,  so  far  as 
the  nature  of  things  permitted,  is  also  true.  But  in  many 
places  in  the  prophets,  and  in  some  of  the  historical  narra- 
tions, this  spiritual  sense  or  truth  has  clothed  itself  in  lan- 
guage which  has  no  other  truth  than  its  internal  truth.  But 
wherever  the  literal  sense  expresses  the  commandment  of 
God,  given  to  regulate  the  moral  conduct  of  man,  and  so 
bring  his  external  life  into  harmony  with  his  spiritual  life, 
there  this  external  literal  sense  has  eternal  and  Divine 
truth,  holiness,  and  authority.  And  if  this  Science  of  Cor- 
respondence is  accurately  applied  to  the  Word  of  God  as  a 
book  and  to  the  Word  of  God  as  a  person,  they  will  be  found 
to  be  identical. 

Our  Lord  came  to  earth  only  to  provide  new  means  and 
methods  for  the  salvation  of  man :  for  his  salvation  from  his 
sins ;  for  the  birth  and  growth  of  a  new  life  within  him ;  for 


APPARENT  DISORDER  IN  THE   GOSPELS.       35 

his  regeneration.  The  written  Word  of  Gk)d  has  throughout 
tliis  end  and  no  other  end.  And  the  spiritual  sense  of  Scrip- 
ture shows  how  its  every  verse  was  written  for  this  end ;  and 
how  our  Lord,  in  every  word  and  every  act,  spoke  and  acted 
for  this  end. 

Swedenborg,  in  the  many  instances  which  he  gives,  and  in 
the  principles  which  he  lays  down,  enables  us  now  to  use  this 
science  as  a  science.  We  cannot  always  use  it  with  cer- 
tainty and  everywhere ;  for  the  plain  reason,  that  this  science, 
like  every  other,  has  its  beginning,  its  growth  and  develop- 
ment ;  and  it  is  now  only  in  its  beginning. 

It  is  this  Science  of  Correspondence  which  I  shall  apply, 
as  well  as  I  am  able,  to  the  records  of  our  Lord's  life  on 
earth.  And  so  far  as  I  am  able  to  comprehend  and  use  this 
science  without  error,  I  shall  show  the  absolute  Unity  of  our 
Lord's  Life.  By  this  is  meant,  not  merely  its  unity,  or  con- 
sistence and  completeness  in  itself;  but  the  unity  of  what  He 
said  and  what  He  did  as  recorded  in  the  Gospels,  and  what 
He  then  taught  and  then  did  in  the  spiritual  world,  and  what 
He  is  always  teaching  and  doing  in  the  soul  of  man ;  the 
absolute  Unity  of  the  Divine  Life,  in  its  whole  action,  and  its 
whole  operation,  purpose  and  end. 


OP   THE    APPARENT    DISORDER    AND    CONFLICT   IN   THE 
GOSPELS. 

The  Gospels  do  not  form,  and  they  do  not  contain,  anything 
which  can  seem  to  a  reader,  in  its  literal  sense,  a  logical 
exposition  of  a  wide  belief,  with  its  parts  well  adjusted  for 
mutual  support  and  illustration,  and  its  statements  advancing 
step  by  step,  in  gradual  sequence  and  evolution.  There  is 
indeed  little  apparent  order  or  connection  in  the  successive 
statements  of  Truth  in  the  Gospels.  What  order  or  con- 
nection there  is  differs  in  the  different  Gospels,  and  in  all  of 


36  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   GOSPELS. 

them  a})pears  to  be  casual  and  fragmentary.  The  three  first 
Gospels  may  be  brought  into  some  harmony  as  to  the  sequence 
of  events  and  statements ;  but  the  fourth  Gospel  cannot 
easily  be  brought  within  this  harmony. 

This  disconnected  and  fragmentary  character  belongs  in 
some  degree  even  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  which,  more 
than  any  other  long  passage  in  the  Gospels,  has  the  appear- 
ance of  a  continuous  discourse.  And,  for  the  most  part,  the 
words  of  our  Lord  appear  as  remarks  and  instructions  called 
forth,  day  by  day,  by  ever-varying  circumstances ;  and  some- 
times they  appear  to  have  but  little  reference  to  these 
circumstances. 

All  this  has  been  often  observed ;  and  it  has  been  made,  by 
unbelievers,  the  ground  for  argument  against  the  Divine 
origin  or  authority  of  the  Scriptures.  Then  it  has  been 
replied  by  believers,  that  these  characteristics  indicate  that 
the  Gospels  are  not  a  merely  human  work ;  because  they 
exhibit  the  Gospels  as  the  very  opposite  of  all  they  would 
have  been,  if  they  were  but  an  effort  of  human  reason  to 
persuade  or  convince,  or  to  found  a  new  system  of  faith. 

But  much  more  may  be  said  of  these  characteristics. 
They  can  be  explained  only  by  a  clear  understanding  of  the 
Divine  purposes,  and  of  the  order  and  the  principles  which 
prevail  in  the  working  out  of  these  purposes,  and  of  the 
necessity  of  human  freedom,  as  always  existing,  and  always 
provided  for  by  the  Lord,  in  all  that  He  does  for  the  salva- 
tion of  men ;  and  this  understanding,  applied  to  the  Gospels, 
illustrates  their  character,  and  is  itself  illustrated  by  their 
character. 

Our  nearest  approach  to  an  idea  of  God  is  as  a  Being 
whose  love  is  perfect,  and  whose  wisdom  is  perfect,  and  to 
whose  power  there  can  be  no  limit,  excepting  that  which  may 
be  imposed  by  His  own  perfect  wisdom. 

It  is  but  another  way  of  saying  that  perfect  love  must  love 
perfectly,  when  I  say  that  it  must  desire  to  give  to  others  the 


THE   WORK  OF  GOD  IN  MAN.  37 

utmost  good.  And  then  it  follows,  that  the  one  purpose  of 
God,  which  includes  all  others  and  prompts  all  others,  is  to 
create  and  provide  for  beings,  to  whom  He  may  impart  His 
own  love  and  wisdom  and  happiness,  in  an  ever-growing 
measux'e. 

Then,  that  this  can  be  done  only  by  the  creation  and  pres- 
ervation of  immortal  beings,  who  shall  have  their  own 
personality,  their  own  selfhood,  and  who  by  virtue  thereof 
shall  be  and  remain  themselves  ;  who  shall  have  entire 
freedom,  and  the  responsibility  of  freedom,  even  while  they 
live  only  from  Him ;  and  who  may  learn  to  receive  His 
Divine  gifts  of  life  and  happiness  in  that  freedom. 

From  this  it  follows  obviously  and  necessarily,  that  what- 
soever God  may  do  for  man,  it  is  an  incomplete  work,  until 
man  does  his  part,  —  that  part  of  the  work  which  it  is  per- 
mitted him  to  do,  and  which  it  lies  on  him  to  do ;  and  this 
part  is,  to  receive  the  inflowing  life  from  God,  not  passively, 
and  not  as  yielding  to  controlling  power,  but  actively,  by  his 
own  choice,  in  freedom,  and  so  to  make  it  a  part  of  his  new- 
born self. 

Let  me  re-state  this  view  in  what  may  be  a  simpler  form. 
The  highest  possible  happiness  for  a  human  being  must  be  that 
of  receiving  voluntarily,  as  of  himself,  and  by  his  own  willing 
co-operation,  Divine  goodness  into  his  affections,  and  Divine 
wisdom  into  his  understanding,  and  thus  making  them  to  be 
his  own.  These  Divine  elements  are  necessarily  finited  and 
limited  for  his  reception,  and  by  his  reception.  But  they 
,  need  not  be  perverted.  And  in  the  degree  in  which  they  are 
[voluntarily  received  and  not  perverted,  they  constitute  his 
happiness.  They  may  be  received  in  any  degree  or  measure, 
from  the  least  to  the  greatest.  They  may  be  perverted  in 
him  or  unperverted.  All  this  must  depend  upon  himself. 
But,  if  his  highest  happiness  must  be  the  receiving  them  and 
making  them  to  be  his  own,  by  his  own  choice,  and  his  own 
voluntary  co-operation,  this  must  be  the  happiness  which  his 


38  SPIRITUAL   TRUTH. 

Father,  by  the  necessity  of  His  own  infinite  love,  must  desire 
to  give  him.  And,  therefore,  that  they  may  be  so  received, 
the  man  must  be  able  to  receive  the  gifts  of  God,  or  to  reject 
them,  as  he  may  prefer ;  to  pervert  them,  or  not  to  pei'vert 
them.  In  other  words,  he  must  be  free ;  free  to  choose  this 
day  whom  he  will  serve ;  free  to  make  this  choice,  and  to 
rise  or  fall  by  this  choice,  every  day  and  every  hour.  More 
than  this.  He  not  only  may  make  this  choice,  but  he  must 
make  it.  It  is  his  necessity ;  arid  therefore  it  is  within  his 
ability.  And  therefore,  again,  it  must  be  the  constant  effort 
of  Divine  Providence  to  give  to  him  always,  and  preserve  for 
him  always,  as  far  as  may  be  possible,  this  Freedom. 

They  who  do  not  know  this  law,  or  do  not  know  that  it 
springs  from  infinite  love,  may  regret  a  distinction  between 
spiritual  truth  and  natural  truth,  which  is  nevertheless  certain. 
Natural  truth  may  be  proved  by  evidence  that  is  wholly  ir- 
respective of  affection  or  character,  and  compels  belief.  As 
soon  as  a  child  understands  what  two,  and  three,  and  five, 
mean,  he  cannot  but  know  and  be  sure,  that  two  and  three 
make  five.  The  same  thing  is  true  if  we  ascend  to  the 
loftiest  heights  which  mathematics  has  ever  climbed.  It  is 
not  so  with  any  religious  truth.  There  is  not,  there  never 
was,  and  there  never  will  be,  any  religious  truth,  as  to  which 
reasons  may  not  be  found  sufficient  for  doubt  with  him  who 
prefers  to  doubt,  or  for  rejection  with  him  who  desires  to 
reject.  But,  for  all  this,  there  is  greater  certainty  about 
spiritual  truth  than  about  natural  truth.  Origen  said  long 
ago,  and  Jeremy  Taylor  quotes  and  adopts  the  saying,  "  That 
knowledge  which  comes  from  goodness  is  more  Divine  and 
more  certain  than  demonstration."  Or,  as  Swedenborg  ex- 
presses it,  "  Truth  is  seen  from  good,  and  in  no  case  without 
good." 

Let  us  now  apply  this  principle  to  the  Gospels.  On  the 
one  hand,  they  never  present  to  the  intellect  an  array  of 
truths  marshalled  and  armed  with  invincible  logic,  or  with 


TRUTH  NOT  FORCED  ON  MAN.  39 

such  force  of  systematic  argument  or  exposition,  that  consent 
would  be  compelled.  Nowhere  do  they  attempt  to  move  the 
emotional  nature  with  appeals  to  love,  or  fear,  or  any  passion, 
so  strong  as  to  make  resistance  impossible.  Never  do  they 
so  address  any  man,  that  if  he  loves  better  to  close  his  mind 
and  his  heart  than  to  permit  their  entrance  and  operation,  he 
has  no  power  of  choice. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  they  now  declare  and  now  intimate, 
now  present  with  startling  force  and  clearness,  and  now  only 
suggest,  truths  which  will  be  sure  to  enter  if  the  door  be 
opened  to  them,  and  sure  to  bring  light  and  life  and  blessing 
wherever  they  are  permitted  to  enter. 

When  our  Lord  was  on  earth,  and  spoke  to  those  about 
Him,  the  Gospels  show  us  that  the  words  which  attracted 
and  bound  to  Him  those  who  were  ready  to  be  His  disciples, 
and  were  to  them  as  the  bread  of  life,  were  only  foolishness 
to  those  who  were  wise  in  their  own  conceit,  and  repelled 
those  who  could  have  no  inward  sympathy  with  Him,  and 
inflamed  the  enmity  of  those  who  hated  Him. 

Religious  truth  of  any  kind  can  be  received  by  the  under- 
standing and  implanted  in  the  heart,  only  in  freedom,  and  only 
by  that  voluntary  choice  and  assent,  which  cannot  exist  without 
freedom.  And  the  Gospels  are  so  written,  with  so  much  of 
seeming  irregularity,  uncertainty,  and  even  inconsistency,  and 
the  truths  they  reveal  are  so  expressed,  that  no  one  of  these 
truths  ever  does  more  than  invite  acceptance ;  and  always 
presents  itself  in  such  a  way,  that  it  is  as  easy  for  a  mind 
which  does  not  welcome  it  to  reject  it,  as  it  is  for  a  mind 
which  does  welcome  it  to  receive  it. 

For  example,  the  central  doctrine  of  Christianity  is  that 
which  tells  us  that  Jesus  Christ  was  and  is  Immanuel,  "  God 
with  us."  And  yet  they  who  read  the  Gospels,  with  the  de- 
sire, consciously  or  unconsciously,  of  seeing  in  Him  only  a 
man  like  themselves,  —  better,  wiser,  stronger,  —  but  only 
such  a  man  as  they  may  be,  —  have  always  found  and  will 


40  TEE  EFFECT  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

always  find  in  the  Gospels  that  which  permits  them  to  believe 
this ;  and  to  believe  it  in  such  a  way,  and  with  such  modifica- 
tions, as  suit  them.  While  they  whose  mind  and  character 
lead  them  to  look  upon  Him  as  one  with  the  Father,  see  in 
the  same  Gospels  enough  to  assure  them  that  in  the  beginning 
He  was  with  God  and  was  God.  They  see,  as  they  see  the 
sun  at  noon-day,  that  in  Him,  He  who  is  infinite  Love,  bowed 
the  heavens  and  came  down,  and  took  upon  Himself  a  human 
nature,  with  its  whole  capacity  of  human  suffering,  that  so  He 
might  save  His  children  ;  —  they  see  this,  until  their  hearts 
burn  with  the  full  recognition  of  this  infinite  and  inconceivable 
goodness. 

In  thus  coming  with  overpowering  violence  upon  no  mind 
or  heart,  but  offering  to  all,  all  that  can  be  received,  the  Gos- 
pels reflect,  as  in  a  mirror,  the  whole  course  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence in  relation  to  mankind,  and  to  every  hour  of  every 
man's  life. 

It  is  also  important  to  know  and  to  remember,  that  while 
religious  truth  is  always  so  presented  that  it  can  be  received 
only  when  it  is  welcomed,  its  power  for  good  wherever  it  is  so 
received  is  not  thereby  in  the  slightest  degree  lessened  or 
obstructed. 

For  an  illustration  of  this,  we  may  look  to  the  history  of 
Christianity.  The  truths  presented  in  the  Gospels,  in  any 
of  the  various  forms  they  there  assume,  have  within  them  in- 
finite power.  They  were  given  to  reconstruct  human  society ; 
and  they  are  competent  to  do  this.  The  little  we  have  yet 
seen  of  a  work  whose  indefinite  endurance  will  be,  as  the 
ages  roll  on,  still  in  its  beginning,  justifies  our  saying  that 
Christianity,  as  revealed  in  the  Gospels,  and  taught  by  the 
disciples  of  our  Lord,  and  filled  with  His  influence,  was  and 
is  a  power,  which  has  promoted  the  growth,  development, 
purification,  and  exaltation  of  human  thought,  affection,  and 
character,  far  more  than  any  other  of  the  instruments  of 
Providence  has  ever  done ;  while,  through  all  its  centuries, 


A   COMMON  MISTAKE.  41 

it  has  submitted  to  the  law  of  human  freedom,  and  owes 
its  many  perversions  and  falsifications  to  the  abuse  of  this 
freedom. 

Already  the  experience  of  mankind  has  taught  thoughtful 
persons  the  marvellous  power  possessed  by  the  truths  of 
Christianity,  of  growth,  of  development  with  circumstances 
calling  for  it,  and  of  adaptation  to  the  circumstances,  and  to 
all  the  questions  and  needs  presented  by  the  ever-varying 
phases  of  society  and  humanity.  But  now  a  new  evidence 
of  this  power  has  come,  too  vast  and  too  diverse  from  all  that 
was  known  before  to  be  readily  accepted.  It  comes  as  the 
revelation  of  a  spiritual  sense  of  the  Scriptures,  founded  upon 
the  correspondence  between  natural  and  spiritual  things. 

Because  the  revelations  made  for  the  New  Church  are 
higher  in  their  character  and  their  instruction  than  any  which 
were  ever  made  before,  they  therefore  necessarily  demand, 
for  the  establishment  of  the  New  Church,  in  the  world,  and 
in  every  man's  mind,  a  larger  measure  of  freedom,  and  a 
higher  character  of  freedom,  than  earlier  dispensations  re- 
quired. 

A  mistake  constantly  and  perhaps  inevitably  made  by  all 
who  stand  outside  of  this  church,  and  against  which  they  who 
endeavor  to  come  within  it  are  not  always  on  their  guard,  is, 
to  regard  it  as  narrow  and  sectarian.  This  is  indeed  a  mis- 
take. Its  truth  is  wide  as  the  universe ;  and  wider,  for  it 
embraces  God.  It  is  God,  unveiling  the  infinite  Wisdom 
which  comes  to  man  in  His  Word.  It  is  not  merely  a  new 
doctrine,  or  a  new  set  of  doctrines,  concerning  any  especial 
topics.  It  is  a  new  way  of  understanding  all  things.  It  is  a 
new  system  of  thought  and  truth,  which  embraces  all  thought 
and  all  truth.  It  cannot  come  within  the  complete  compre- 
hension of  any  man  or  any  men,  to-day,  or  a  thousand  years 
hence,  or  ever.  It  is  a  revelation  of  the  central  principles  of 
truth ;  and  because  they  are  infinite,  itself  is  infinite ;  and  it 
will  be  infinite  in  its  growth,  and  eternal  in  its  development ; 


42  DIVINE   TRUTH  ALWAYS   GIVEN. 

forever  offering  to  them  who  go  farthest,  treasures  that  invite 
and  reward  farther  progress. 

Nor  is  it  a  hard,  rejecting,  unsympathizing  truth.  It  is  a 
reconciling  truth.  It  acknowledges  that  from  the  first  mo- 
ment of  human  thought,  Divine  truth  came  to  man,  and 
constituted  all  the  light  of  that  thought ;  and  that,  ever  since, 
it  has  come  to  men  as  it  could,  and  abode  with  them  as  it 
could ;  fragmentary,  and  with  its  fragments  clouded  and  dis- 
torted, and  almost  concealed  by  the  falsities  which  men  have 
mingled  with  it.  But  there  it  still  was,  Divine  Truth,  giving 
to  men  all  the  light  they  had.  And  now  a  church  has  been 
established,  which  will  give  to  men  a  higher  order  and  a  larger 
measure  of  Truth,  and  recognize  and  gather  together  all 
these  fragments,  and  bring  them  into  order  and  harmony 
and  wholeness,  and  breathe  into  them  a  new  life.  This  work 
it  has  not  finished,  and  never  will  finish ;  but  it  has  begun 
this  work,  even  to  our  dim  and  feeble  apprehension. 

It  is  a  reconciling  truth.  It  accepts  cordially  whatever  of 
good  there  was  in  the  last  extreme  of  self-renunciation 
of  which  asceticism  ever  dreamed ;  and  as  cordially,  an  inter- 
est in  all  the  work  and  all  the  activity  of  social  or  business 
life,  as  earnest  and  active  as  that  of  the  merest  worldling.  It 
looks  upon  the  exuberant  beauty  of  creation,  and  seeks  it,  and 
enjoys  it,  and  will  portray  it,  as  art  has  never  yet  done.  It 
interprets  the  music  of  the  summer  wind  uj^on  its  living 
harps,  and  gives  new  sweetness  to  the  old,  old  melody,  for  it 
gives  to  it  new  meaning.  It  tastes  gladly  and  gratefully  all 
the  innocent  pleasures  which  are  given  to  man.  All  these 
things  are,  in  its  embrace,  neither  conflicting  nor  discordant. 
All  are  reconciled  by  the  truth  that  they  are  all  gifts  from 
God ;  that  we  may  recognize  within  them  His  laws,  His  pur- 
pose, and  His  Presence ;  and  that  when  we  so  receive  and 
use  His  gifts.  His  purpose  is  accomplished,  and  we  are  day 
by  day  created  more  and  more  into  His  image  and  likeness. 
Even  this  truth  has  always  been  seen,  and  has  always  given 


CLAIMS   OF  NEW  CHURCH  TRUTH.  43 

to  men  the  best  guidance  which  they  had ;  but  it  was  seen 
only  as  the  diffused  light  of  a  hidden  sun  is  seen  in  a  clouded 
and  tempestuous  day. 

It  is  indeed  a  reconciling  truth.  Under  its  influence,  self- 
renunciation  and  self-sacrifice  are  wise  and  safe ;  for  they 
become  the  sacrifice  of  self-trust  as  our  only  guidance,  and 
of  the  love  of  self  as  our  prevailing  motive.  The  beauty  of 
the  universe  becomes  a  living  and  an  ever-growing  beauty, 
when  we  discern  its  meaning,  and  see  that  it  points  upwards 
to  Him  whose  love  and  wisdom  clothe  themselves  in  beauty 
as  in  their  fitting  garment.  The  most  active  interest  in  the 
business  of  life  is  consecrated  by  the  desire  of  acting  as  His 
instrument  and  under  His  direction,  in  the  performance  of 
the  work  which  He  gives  us  to  do  ;  and  all  innocent  pleasures 
are  purified  and  exalted  into  hap^Diness  by  the  acknowledg- 
ment and  the  perception  that  they  are  the  gifts  of  a  loving 
Father. 

And  through  all  this,  and  that  it  may  do  all  this,  it 
everywhere  enlarges,  elevates  and  preserves  the  freedom  of 
every  man ;  and  at  the  same  time  exerts  the  strongest  influ- 
ence to  guard  this  freedom  from  being  corrupted  into  license. 

The  claims  of  New  Church  Truth  may  by  their  very  mag- 
nitude repel  belief.  They  may  seem,  for  this  reason,  to  have 
an  aspect  not  only  of  arrogance,  but  of  improbability,  or 
even  of  impossibility.  It  is  undoubtedly  reasonable  to  re- 
quire that  the  evidence  of  any  asserted  truth  shall  bear  some 
proportion  to  its  importance ;  and  in  every-day  life  we  act 
upon  this  principle.  It  would  follow,  therefore,  that  the  evi- 
dence of  New  Church  Truth  should  be  cogent,  complete,  and 
fully  sufiiclent  to  satisfy  every  rational  mind  which  can  be 
willing  to  love  the  good  from  which  this  truth  proceeds  and 
to  which  it  leads.  This  we  admit ;  and  then  we  say  it  is 
supported  by  just  such  evidence.  And  we  suggest  another 
principle  of  familiar  recognition.  It  is,  that  if  claims  or 
assertions,  by  reason   of  their  magnitude   and  importance. 


44  EVIDENCE   OF  REVEALED   TRUTH. 

require  proofs  of  unusual  character  and  force,  such  proofs  of 
such  claims  need  candid  and  careful  investigation,  in  the 
manner  which  is  proper  to  proofs  of  that  kind,  before  they 
can  be  judged  of  aright. 

Now  the  evidence  of  this  newly  revealed  Truth  is  almost 
wholly  internal;  its  highest  and  most  conclusive  evidence 
entirely  internal.  The  reason  of  this  may  be  found  in  what 
has  been  already  stated;  namely,  that  Divine  Providence 
preserves  for  the  human  mind  a  higher  and  more  nearly  per- 
fect freedom,  in  proportion  as  the  religious  truth  revealed  is 
of  a  higher  character ;  and,  therefore,  this  new  revelation  of 
religious  truth  comes  in  such  a  form,  and  by  such  means,  as 
may  interfere  in  the  least  possible  degree  with  human  free- 
dom. Hence  there  is  an  entire  absence  of  miraculous  attes- 
tation ;  for  miracles  have  a  strong  tendency  to  compel  the 
belief  of  the  reluctant.  And  this  new  Truth  is  so  offered  to 
men,  as  to  be  acceptable  only  to  those  who  welcome  it,  and 
who  welcome  it  because  they  desire  the  instruction  which 
they  can  see  that  it  offers,  and  the  goodness  to  which  they 
can  see  that  it  promises  to  lead  them. 

In  one  sense,  this  Truth  is  certainly  offered  to  all ;  and 
they  who  receive  it  must  receive  it  each  in  his  or  her  own 
way ;  each  with  the  measure  and  the  kind  of  effort  which  his 
or  her  character  makes  necessary.  For  there  can  be  no 
advance  either  in  wisdom  or  in  goodness,  without  effort ;  or 
without  our  doing  the  work  which  is  given  us  to  do. 
There  are  those  to  whose  minds  this  Truth,  or  at  least  its 
elements,  come  recommended  by  their  own  worth,  and  en- 
counter no  indurated  unbelief,  and  no  confirmed  opposing 
principles,  or  habits  of  thought.  Such  persons  welcome  each 
truth  as  they  see  it,  because  it  is  grateful  to  their  hearts  and 
to  their  understandings.  They  see  it  by  its  own  light,  and  as 
if  by  intuition.  They  see  it  because  they  love  the  good,  the 
purity,  the  peace,  to  which  the  truth  leads,  and  "  love  giveth 
insight."     But  even  such  persons  may  find  that  difficulties 


DIFFERENT  KINDS   OF  RECEPTION.  45 

come  to  them  at  a  later  period.  In  this  Kfe,  even  if  we  tread 
the  holy  land,  we  cannot  but  find  it  a  land  of  hills  and 
valleys.  And  another  thing  is  certain,  —  they  who  do  indeed 
receive  this  Truth  must  encounter  the  toil,  the  struggle,  and 
the  perils  which  are  inevitable  for  those  who  would  do  more 
than  understand  this  Truth,  —  who  would  make  God's  gift 
the  law  of  their  lives  and  the  life  of  their  lives ;  who  would 
lose  their  life  that  they  may  save  their  life ;  who  would  lose 
their  natural,  earthly,  sensuous  and  selfish  life,  that  they 
may  have  in  its  stead  the  new  life  that  comes  to  those  who 
are  "  boi'n  of  water  and  the  spirit,"  in  the  highest  meaning  of 
those  solemn  words. 

To  other  minds,  perhaps  to  most,  the  process  of  mere 
belief,  of  mere  reception  into  the  understanding,  may  be  slow, 
gi-adual,  and  difficult.  It  is  discovered  only  step  by  step,  how 
truth  after  truth  answers  the  hard  questions  which  have  per- 
plexed the  thoughtful  in  all  ages,  and  throws  a  light  —  often 
a  light  of  beauty  and  of  glory  —  into  dark  comers  of  science 
and  religion,  which  had  seemed  to  be  the  very  homes  of 
clouds  and  shadows. 

The  real  progress  of  the  church  in  every  mind,  and  in  all 
minds,  or  upon  the  earth,  must  be  very  slow.  The  work  it 
has  to  do  is  that  of  changing  the  heart,  and  character,  and 
life ;  a  work  of  vast  extent  and  equal  difficulty ;  a  work  which, 
I  will  again  repeat,  must  be  done  in  each  and  all,  in  and  by 
and  through  human  freedom ;  and  by  reason  of  this  funda- 
mental and  perpetual  requirement,  cannot  be  done  otherwise 
than  slowly  and  laboriously. 

It  is  not  to  be  denied,  that  the  claims  of  the  New  Church 
are  transcendent.  They  cover  nothing  less  than  the  whole  of 
human  thouglit,  knowledge,  belief,  and  life,  through  the  whole 
future.  It  would  indeed  be  a  false  humility  which  would 
deny  that  its  pretensions  are  magnificent ;  and  more  so  than 
words  can  express  or  thought  measure.  For  there  is  no  de- 
partment of  science  or  philosophy  or  religion,  or  of  morality, 


46  WE  LIVE  IN  TEE  BEGINNING. 

or  of  social  or  political  or  national  life,  or  of  any  of  the  rela- 
tions between  man  and  the  earth  he  inhabits,  between  man 
and  his  neighbor,  between  earth  and  the  spiritual  world,  or 
between  the  created  universe,  whether  material  or  spiritual, 
and  its  constant  creator,  God,  for  which  this  church  does  not 
promise  instruction. 

But  then  this  promise  can  be  fulfiOled  to  an  extent  which 
shall  seem  great  in  comparison  with  the  whole,  only  in  far 
distant  ages.  We  live  only  in  the  beginning.  And  let  it 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  same  reasons  which  make  it  certain 
that  the  progress  of  the  church  must  be  gradual,  slow  and 
laborious,  make  it  equally  certain  that  it  must  be  feeble  and 
imperfect  in  its  beginning.  Over  this  beginning  we  who  see 
it  may  rejoice ;  and  it  would  be  strange  if  we  did  not.  But 
while  we  rejoice  at  the  gift  now  offered  to  mankind,  at  the 
light  which  shines  upon  our  own  dark  places,  —  rejoice  in 
the  vivid  perception  that  it  comes  from  and  leads  to  the 
source  of  all  good,  as  they  rejoice  upon  whom  the  sun  rises 
after  a  dark  night  on  a  tossing  ocean,  and  who  look  along  the 
path  of  light  that  lies  upon  the  waves  and  points  to  the  dis- 
tant sun  and  reveals  its  presence,  —  even  while  we  so  rejoice, 
we  must  still  bewail  our  own  imperfect  reception ;  our  own 
imperfect  understanding  of  the  glorious  truths  revealed ;  and 
if  we  attempt  to  tell  them  to  others,  our  own  most  imperfect 
utterance. 

Let  it  not  be  forgotten,  that  the  crowning  glory  of  man, 
the  greatest  gift  which  infinite  love  could  bestow,  and  the  one 
condition  on  which  alone  all  the  higher  gifts  from  God  to 
man  are  possible,  is  human  freedom.  Then  let  it  not  be  for- 
gotten, that  because  man  possesses  freedom,  all  higher  gifts 
are  possible,  and  infinite  love  may  build  up  in  him,  a  possi- 
bility of  receiving  even  such  happiness  as  infinite  love  would 
desire  to  impart.  And  then  let  it  not  be  forgotten,  that  if, 
upon  the  possession  of  our  freedom  the  possibility  of  our 
progress  depends,  the  same  freedom  makes  it  possible  that  we 


DENIAL   OF  THE   SUPERNATURAL.  47 

may  refuse  to  advance,  —  that  we  may  prefer  to  descend. 
And  then,  instead  of  going  upward  step  by  step,  along  the 
unending  series  of  truths  at  the  summit  of  wliich  —  never  to 
be  reached  —  stands  Divine  Wisdom,  we  may  go  down,  step 
by  step,  into  the  abyss  of  falsehood.  And  whether  we  go 
upwards  or  downwards,  depends  upon  which  of  these  two 
classes  of  beliefe  —  the  true  or  the  false  —  is  that  towards 
which  we  turn  an  affirmative  and  accepting  mind,  or  a  nega- 
tive and  rejecting  mind. 

The  mind  which  holds  sensuous  knowledge  and  sensuous 
reasoning,  not  only  as  furnishing  the  indispensable  materials 
of  intelligence,  but  as  the  primary  and  only  trustworthy  source 
of  instruction,  and  undertakes  to  discover  spiritual  truth  by 
the  light  of  this  illumination,  —  such  a  mind  is  in  an  affirm- 
ative state  only  as  to  sensuous  things  and  knowledges  and 
sciences  and  philosophies,  and  is,  whatever  it  may  persuade 
itself  to  believe  of  itself,  in  a  distinctly  negative  state  as  to  all 
spiritual  truths  and  spiritual  knowledges.  It  is  in  an  affirm- 
ative state  as  to  nature  and  everything  which  it  can  bring 
witliin  the  name  and  character  of  the  natural ;  but  is  in  a 
negative  state  as  to  all  which  it  must  admit  to  be  supernatural. 
The  consummation  of  this  state  is  the  absolute  denial  of  the 
supernatural  in  all  existence,  all  science,  and  all  religion. 
And  if  there  be  not  many  who  have  reached  this  consum- 
mation confessedly  and  consciously,  all  are  on  the  way  to  it 
who  bring  the  natural  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  super- 
natural. This  is  now  the  prevailing,  and  almost  the  universal, 
way ;  and  hence  it  is  that  all  idea  of  the  supernatural  is  in 
almost  all  minds,  vague,  uncertain  and  unreal. 

"VMiere  there  is  a  disposition  to  deny  spiritual  truth,  there 
is,  I  repeat,  nothing  in  the  evidence  which  is  offisred  or  can 
be  offered,  to  prevent  the  indulgence  of  this  disposition. 
Every  man  asserts  and  supposes  that  he  is  ready  to  believe 
anything  on  sufficient  evidence.  It  is  now  quite  a  fashion  for 
those  who  would  cast  everything  supernatural  out  of  their 


48  LAZARUS. 

Cliristianity,  to  say  that  they  do  not  deny  the  possibility  of 
miracles.  O  no ;  they  are  perfectly  ready  to  believe  them  on 
adequate  evidence.  The  gospels  say  that  Jesus  raised  Laza- 
rus from  death.  But  when  —  where  —  how?  In  an  igno- 
rant and  uncritical  age  which  saw  the  supernatural  everywhere, 
among  a  most  ignorant  and  superstitious  people,  and  before 
no  witnessess  disposed  or  qualified  to  examine  critically  such 
a  circumstance.  Let  the  same  thing  be  done  after  due  notice, 
before  competent  and  watchful  judges,  not  once  only,  but  so 
often  as  to  dispel  reasonable  suspicion  of  jugglery  or  illusion, 
—  and  then  we  shall  believe  it  at  once !  Then  we  accept  it 
as  a  fact ;  and  explain  it  or  class  it  with  other  facts  as  we 
can.  But  what  else  is  this,  than  to  say  we  are  perfectly 
ready  to  accept  a  miracle  as  soon  as  it  becomes  not  a  miracle  ? 
Are  they  ready,  are  they,  while  in  that  state  of  mind,  able  to 
believe  anything  as  a  miracle  ?  Any  fact  thus  taking  place, 
would  become  at  once  a  natural  fact ;  and  they  would  at  once 
set  themselves  at  work  to  find  forces  or  laws  of  nature  to  ex- 
plain it ;  and  all  such  inquirers  would  be  sure  to  find  what 
explained  it  to  them,  however  they  might  differ  as  to  the 
explanation. 

The  question  of  belief  or  unbelief  of  any  religious  truth 
depends  always  on  the  evidence  offered,  and  also  on  the  dis- 
position to  believe  or  to  deny.  Now  there  are,  as  has  been 
already  said,  two  classes  of  truths ;  two  classes  into  which  all 
truths  are  divisible.  One  class  consists  of  those  which  relate 
to  the  outer  world,  and  its  laws  and  forces,  and  the  senses 
and  what  the  senses  reveal  or  indicate ;  and  so  to  all  that  is 
within  the  category  of  time  and  space  and  is  commonly  in- 
cluded under  the  name  of  nature.  "VVliile  truths  of  the  other 
class  relate  to  the  spirit,  and  to  things  of  the  spirit,  all  of 
which  are  within  and  above  nature  and  its  laws  and  forces 
and  sciences. 

AH  that  was  said  of  the  power  and  effect  of  choice  and 
disposition  applies  perfectly  here.     There  is  nothing  what- 


BO   YOU  LOVE   THE   TEUTH?  49 

ever  in  the  operations  of  Providence,  or  in  the  laws  of  His 
universe,  which  would  prevent  any  man  from  cordially  ac- 
cepting and  clmging  to  either  of  these  classes  of  truths,  and 
rejecting  and  denying  the  others,  if  he  has  and  indulges  the 
disposition  to  so  do.  But  he  does  so,  in  either  case,  at  his 
own  peril.  These  two  classes  of  truths  are  not  independ- 
ent, and  still  less  are  they  antagonistic.  He  who  knows  all 
that  is  knowable  of  the  outer  world,  possesses  nothing  but 
the  dead  shell,  the  innutritions  husks  of  knowledge,  if  he 
closes  his  mind  against  all  truth  which  relates  to  the  inner 
world.  While  he  who  learns  and  loves  only  the  knowledge 
of  spirit  in  its  transcendental  elevation,  abandons  all  use  of 
the  very  means  and  methods  provided  to  enable  him  to  see 
the  highest  truths  brought  down  within  his  apprehension, 
illustrated  in  action  and  embodiment,  and  resting  on  immov- 
able foundations. 

He  who  is  in  the  negative  as  to  both  of  these  classes  of 
truths  can  learn  nothing;  he  who  is  in  the  negative  as  to 
either  cannot  learn  tliat,  and  will  understand  the  other  im- 
perfectly ;  and  he  only  can  understand  both  and  grow  in 
wisdom  as  to  both,  who  is  in  the  affirmative  as  to  both,  and 
arranges  them  in  his  mind  in  due  subordination. 

No  man,  I  repeat,  ever  says  that  he  is  in  a  negative  mood. 
All  that  any  one  ever  supposes  is,  that  he  is  cautious  and 
reasonable,  on  his  guard  against  deception,  not  disposed  to 
fall  into  common  follies,  ready  to  believe  on  evidence,  but 
believing  only  on  adequate  evidence!  Men  constantly  de- 
ceive themselves  by  uttering  such  things  as  these.  Behind 
them  all,  the  question  ever  remains,  are  you  in  the  affirmative 
or  are  you  in  the  negative  ?  This  does  not  mean,  are  you  so 
disposed  to  believe  as  to  be  credulous  and  easy  and  prone  to 
self-deception ;  but  do  you  love  the  truth  —  that  truth  — 
about  which  you  inquire ;  if  so,  you  may  do  justice  to  the 
evidence  and  the  truth ;  if  not  so,  you  cannot  and  you.  will, 
not. 

4 


50  INDIFFERENCE. 

Nor  is  it  of  any  use  for  any  man  to  tell  himself  or  his 
neighbors,  that  he  inclines  neither  way,  but  stands  upon  the 
exact  middle  point  of  absolute  justice.  Upon  this  point 
the  human  mind  cannot  stand ;  it  must  incline  one  way  or  the 
other ;  and  if  too  much  in  either  way  it  will  lose  its  balance. 
But  if  it  inclines  to  disbelief,  it  will  find  disbelief.  The  in- 
clination must  be  towards  the  truth,  not  enough  to  supple- 
ment evidence  by  conjecture  and  ignore  the  difference 
between  them ;  not  enough  to  silence  or  pervert  reason ;  not 
enough  to  accept  as  a  logical  conclusion  what  is  only  a  fan- 
tasy; but  enough  to  offer  to  Truth  whenever  it  presents 
itself,  an  honest  and  cordial  welcome. 

I  shall  again,  and  in  another  connection,  consider  the 
"  natural  and  the  supernatural,"  and  especially  in  reference 
to  the  miracles  of  the  Gospels. 


THE  JEW8.  51 


CHAPTER   III. 
OF  THE   BIRTH  AND  NATURE  OF  OUR  LORD. 

OF   THE   JEWS. 

The  Jews  regard  themselves,  and  are  regarded  by  others, 
as  a  peculiar  people.  They  have  passed  through  strange 
experiences,  which  are  recorded  in  Scriptures.  These  con- 
stitute a  volume  which  they  caU  The  Book,  or  The  "Word ; 
and  it  is  believed  by  them,  and  by  Christians  generally,  to 
have  been  written  by  inspiration  from  God. 

This  volume  contains  the  history  of  that  people  from  their 
beginning  to  the  time  when  it  was  written  ;  and  this  history 
is  preceded  by  one  which  purports  to  be  the  history  of  the 
world  from  its  creation  to  the  beginning  of  the  Jewish  nation. 
The  volume  also  contains  many  devotional  writings,  and 
others  of  a  peculiar  character  which  are  commonly  called 
by  Christians,  as  well  as  Jews,  prophetical. 

Through  a  large  part  of  this  book  intimations  occur  of  a 
promised  deliverer  or  redeemer.  From  the  feebleness  of  the 
Jews,  and  the  sufferings  they  had  endured  from  conquerors 
and  oppressors,  these  intimations  were  of  peculiar  interest  to 
them. 

About  two  thousand  years  ago  the  hope  was  quite  general 
among  them  and  quite  strong,  that  the  promised  deliverer,  or 
messiah,  would  soon  come ;  and  this  hope  strengthened  for 
the  next  century  or  two;  and  there  is  some  evidence  that 
among  surrounding  nations  about  the  same  time,  a  somewhat 
similar  expectation  existed. 


52  THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS   CHRltiT. 

A  little  less  than  nineteen  hundred  years  ago,  Jesus  Christ 
was  born  in  Judea,  and  near  to  Bethlehem.  He  lived  upon 
earth  about  thirty-three  years ;  and  during  his  life  presented 
himself  as  the  Messiah  who  had  been  promised  to  the  Jews. 

Thus,  the  Messiah,  whom  they  had  long  and  anxiously  ex- 
pected, and  ardently  desired,  came.  But,  instead  of  being 
welcomed  by  them,  and  acknowledged,  and  exalted  to  his  due 
supremacy,  he  was  denied,  rejected  and  crucified. 

The  reason  of  this  was,  that  he  was  not  that  Messiah  which 
they  expected  and  desired.  He  was  not  a  hero,  a  conqueror, 
a  deliverer,  a  redeemer,  a  king,  in  the  sense  and  in  the  way  in 
which  they  supposed  that  he  would  be,  and  wished  him  to  be. 

He  was  all  these,  but  in  a  very  different  way ;  and  there- 
fore they  had  no  faith  in  Him,  no  recognition  of  Him,  and  no 
love  for  Him ;  but  despised  and  rejected  Him. 

He  was  as  much  more  than  they  expected  or  desired,  as  the 
soul  is  more  than  the  body ;  as  eternity  is  more  than  time ; 
as  God  is  more  than  man.  He  was  a  man ;  but  although  He 
walked  among  men,  one  with  them.  He  was  God. 


OF   THE   BIRTH   OF  JESUS   CHRIST. 

1  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and 
the  Word  was  God. 

2  The  same  was  in  the  beginning  with  God. 

3  All  things  were  made  by  him ;  and  without  him  was  not  any 
thing  made  that  was  made. 

4  In  him  was  life ;  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men. 

5  And  the  light  shineth  in  darkness;  and  the  darkness  compre- 
hended it  not. 

6  There  was  a  man  sent  from  God  whose  name  was  John. 

7  The  same  came  for  a  witness,  to  bear  witness  of  the  Light,  that 
all  men  through  him  might  believe. 

8  He  was  not  that  Light,  but  was  sent  to  bear  witness  of  that 
Light. 

9  That  was  the  true  Light,  which  hghteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world. 


THE  WORD  OF  GOD.  53 

10  He  was  in  the  world,  and  the  world  was  made  by  him,  and  the 
world  knew  him  not. 

11  He  came  unto  his  own,  and  his  own  received  him  not. 

12  But  as  many  as  received  him,  to  them  gave  he  power  to  become 
the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  his  name  : 

18  Which  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor 
of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God. 

14  And  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us  (and  we 
beheld  liis  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father),  full 
of  grace  and  truth. 

15  John  bare  witness  of  him,  and  cried,  saying,  This  was  he  of 
whom  I  spake.  He  that  cometh  after  me,  is  preferred  before  me.  — 
John  i.  1-15. 

These  verses  may  be  regarded  as  an  introduction  to  the 
whole  Gk)spel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  word  of  a  man  is  the  expression,  the  form,  the  body 
of  his  thought,  and  the  means  by  which  that  thought  is  made 
known.  The  Word  of  God  is  the  utterance  and  manifesta- 
tion of  that  which  is,  in  Him,  infinite  Wisdom.  It  is  His 
wisdom  expressing  and  embodying  itself  in  the  language  or 
before  the  sense  and  sight  of  men ;  and  it  is  the  means  by 
which  that  wisdom  is  made  known  to  man.  And  in  Jesus 
Christ  it  was  embodied  and  impersonated. 

It  was  in  the  beginning ;  because  the  Wisdom  of  God  ex- 
pressing itself  is  the  origin,  the  first  cause,  the  beginning  of 
everything.  It  was  with  God,  because  the  infinite  Wisdom 
is  one  of  the  essential  elements  of  the  divine  nature,  and,  in 
conjunction  with  infinite  Love  constitutes  Grod.  And  the 
divine  wisdom  expressing  itself  in  its  fruits  was  and  ever  is 
God ;  is  God  in  operation ;  is  the  creating,  preserving,  and 
governing  God.  For  by  His  Wisdom  were  all  things  made 
which  were  made. 

In  Him  is  Life :  because  the  infinite  creating  and  preserv- 
ing God  makes  alive  by  imparting  of  His  own  Life ;  for  there 
is  no  other  life.  And  this  life,  entering  as  wisdom  into  the 
understanding  of  men,  and  therein  by  infinite  love  perfectly 


54  BELIEF  IN  JESUS   CHRIST. 

accommodated  to  him,  becomes  man's  wisdom,  and  is  all  there 
is  of  light  within  him.  And  it  is  thus  that  this  light  enlight- 
eueth  every  man  who  cometh  into  the  world.  Or,  as  the  verse 
may  also  be  translated,  it  is  this  light  "  which  coming  into  the 
world  enlighteneth  every  man." 

But  this  world  thus  made,  and  vivified  and  preserved  by 
Him,  knows  Him  not  when  He  is  in  it  by  His  love  and 
wisdom  and  providence,  and  knew  Him  not  when  He  was  in 
it  in  form  and  person.  Always  there  are  some  who  know 
Him ;  or  the  world  would  perish ;  and  to  all  who  then  received 
Him,  and  to  all  who  ever  receive  Him,  —  and  He  is  ever  com- 
ing to  all  and  asking  to  be  received,  —  to  all,  of  every  age, 
and  name,  and  nation,  and  religion,  who  receive  Him  in  the 
forms  or  in  the  instruction  in  which  He  presents  Himself  to 
them,  even  to  all  who  believe  in  Him,  and  love  that  in  which 
He  thus  comes  to  them.  He  gives  the  power  to  become  the 
sons  of  God,  whether  they  ever  know  His  name  while  they 
are  on  earth,  or  not. 

They  who  believe  in  Him,  receive  Him.  All  receive  Him 
in  the  way  and  in  the  degree  in  which  they  believe  Him ; 
and  in  the  more  general  sense,  a  belief  in  the  truths  which  He 
gives  or  ever  gave  to  any  age  or  nation  or  in  any  form  for 
the  salvation  of  man,  is  to  believe  Him.  It  is  to  receive  the 
Wisdom  of  God,  as  given  to  man.  It  is  to  receive  Him,  for 
He  comes  in  the  Truth  He  gives.  Belief  in  Him  is  a  belief 
that  God  is  our  Father,  and  is  wise  and  good,  and  ever  striv- 
ing to  give  us  of  His  wisdom  and  goodness,  and  that  we  are 
poor  and  miserable  and  evil,  except  as  we  receive  what  He 
offers.  To  believe  this  is  to  receive  what  he  offers,  for  it  is  He 
who  offers  to  us  this  truth  which  we  could  never  discover  for 
ourselves.  To  believe  this  is  to  be  born  again,  with  the  new 
Life  which  is  not  only  His,  but  is  unperverted,  and  therefore 
is  no  longer  made  evil  continually  by  our  own  perversions 
and  those  proclivities  which  we  inherit.  "We  are  now  born 
again,  with  a  new  life ;  with  His  life ;  and  are  His  sons. 


THE  WORD  MADE  FLESH.  56 

The  word  was  made  flesh  in  the  person  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  John  says,  we  beheld  His  glory ;  he 
says  this  speaking  of  himself,  and  of  all  who  were,  and  all 
who  ever  shall  be  His  disciples.  For  all  such  ever  see  Him 
as  only  glorious ;  as  alone  having  the  glory  of  the  perfectly 
uncorrupted  divine  life  from  the  Father ;  the  glory  as  of  His 
only  begotten.  And  all  such  see  him  always,  perfect  in  love 
and  in  wisdom,  full  of  grace  and  truth. 

26  And  in  the  sixth  month  the  angel  Gabriel  was  sent  fi^m  God 
unto  a  city  of  GaUlee,  named  Xazareth, 

27  To  a  virgin  espoused  to  a  man,  whose  name  was  Joseph,  of  the 
house  of  David ;  and  the  virgin's  name  was  Mary. 

28  And  the  angel  came  in  unto  her,  and  said,  Hail,  thou  that  art 
highly  favored,  the  Lord  is  with  thee :  blessed  art  thou  among  women. 

29  And  when  she  saw  him,  she  was  troubled  at  his  saying,  and 
cast  in  her  mind  what  manner  of  salutation  this  should  be. 

30  And  the  angel  said  unto  her,  Fear  not,  Mary :  for  thou  hast 
found  favor  with  God. 

31  And  behold,  thou  shalt  conceive  in  thy  womb,  and  bring  forth 
a  son,  and  shalt  call  his  name  JESUS. 

32  He  shall  be  great,  and  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  the  Highest ; 
and  the  Lord  God  shall  give  unto  him  the  throne  of  his  father  David  : 

33  And  he  shall  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  for  ever ;  and  of 
his  kingdom  tliere  shall  be  no  end. 

34  Then  said  Mary  unto  the  angel.  How  shall  this  be,  seeing  I 
know  not  a  man  ?  —  Luke  i.  26-34. 

18  Now  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ  was  on  this  wise:  When  as  his 
mother  Mary  was  espoused  to  Joseph,  before  they  came  together,  she 
was  found  with  child  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

19  Then  Joseph,  her  husband,  being  a  just  vian,  and  not  willing  to 
make  her  a  public  example,  was  minded  to  put  her  away  privily. 

20  But  while  he  thought  on  these  things,  behold,  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  appeared  unto  him  in  a  dream,  saying,  Joseph,  thou  son  of  David, 
fear  not  to  take  unto  thee  Mary  thy  wife ;  for  that  which  is  conceived 
in  her  is  of  tlie  Holy  Ghost. 

21  And  she  shall  bring  forth  a  son,  and  thou  slialt  call  his  name 
JESUS :  for  he  shall  save  his  people  from  their  sins. 

22  Now  all  this  was  done,  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  waa 
spoken  of  the  Lord  by  the  prophet,  saying. 


56  THE  INCARNATION. 

23  Behold,  a  virgin  shall  he  with  child,  and  shall  bring  forth  a  son, 
and  they  shall  call  his  name  Emmanuel ;  which,  being  interpreted,  is, 
God  with  us. 

24  Then  Joseph,  being  raised  from  sleep,  did  as  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  had  bidden  him,  and  took  unto  him  his  wife —  Matt.  i.  18-25. 

These  verses  declare  that  our  Lord  was  conceived  of  a  vir- 
gin, and  born  of  a  virgin,  and  that  his  father  was  God. 

This  is  the  first  fact  to  be  believed  by  them  who  would 
have,  as  Christians,  the  salvation  promised  to  them  who 
believe  on  Him.  There  are  those  who  deny  all  credence  to 
the  gospels,  and  make  no  pretence  to  the  name  of  Christians. 
There  are  others  who  claim  this  name,  but  narrow  their  faith 
until  their  theories  of  life  or  "  the  laws  of  nature,"  are  satis- 
fied. But  there  is  one  fact  which  is  not  to  be  avoided ;  it 
cannot  be  taken  out  of  the  gospels  and  leave  anything  behind ; 
for  any  supposition  of  "  interpolation  "  or  "  myth  "  or  "  for- 
gery "  can  be  applied  just  as  well  to  any  other  part  of  the 
gospels  and  to  the  whole  of  them,  as  to  these  parts,  there 
being  not  the  least  evidence  of  anything  of  this  kind.  This 
fact,  which  is  thus  inevitable  to  all  who  would  be  Christians, 
is,  that  Jesus  had  God  for  his  father,  and  had  no  other  Father 
but  God. 

Here  then  is  a  fact  to  be  believed,  if  anything  is  to  be 
believed.  If  we  reject  it  because  we  do  not  understand  it,  or 
for  any  reason,  or  for  no  reason,  we  reject  with  it  the  truth 
and  authority  of  the  Christian  Gospels.  We  may  still  ad- 
mire them  or  parts  of  them  ;  and  may  prefer  them  very  much 
to  the  best  things  in  the  Koran  or  in  the  works  of  Plato,  or 
of  Confucius,  or  anywhere  else.  But  we  no  longer  believe 
the  Christian  Gospels  as  thoroughly  and  authoritatively  truth- 
ful records  of  a  revelation  from  God. 

Then  let  us  accept  this  fact  in  all  simplicity.  Let  us  look 
upon  our  Lord  as  the  Son  of  God,  without  mental  reserve  or 
prevarication. 

The  New  Church  tells  us  how  and  why  He  was  the  Son  of 


INTERNAL  AND  EXTERNAL.  57 

God.  It  tells  us  at  least  so  much  of  this,  that  we  may  begin 
to  understand  this  Truth.  But  we  must  not  forget  that  it  is, 
of  necessity,  very  mysterious.  The  conception  and  birth  of 
any  living  thing  is  a  mystery  before  which  science  veils  its 
face.  But  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  infinite  and  eternal  God  came 
down  to  a  human  being,  and  the  Divine  and  the  Human 
became  perfectly  combined  to  give  life,  and  being,  and  human 
personality  to  one  who  was  to  be  born  and  to  live  and  to  die 
as  a  man.     The  Word  was  thus  made  Flesh. 

To  the  first  Christian  Church  no  explanation  whatever  was 
given.  To  the  second  Christian  Church,  or  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem Church,  an  explanation  has  been  given.  Enough  of 
explanation  to  place  our  Lord  before  us,  most  distinctly,  as 
the  object  of  worship ;  as  Him  whom  we  should  love  with 
all  our  soul  and  strength ;  as  Him  towards  whom  all  in  the 
heavens  turn  as  to  the  source  of  all  their  love,  their  wisdom 
and  their  happiness.  And  enough  to  assure  us,  that  what  we 
know  is  the  beginning  of  infinite  wisdom,  which  will  grow  for- 
ever, as  our  enlarging  capacity  for  wisdom  admits  more  light. 

Within  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ  was  the  infinite  God ; 
but  His  external  nature  was  wholly  derived  from  Mary. 
Hence,  in  general  terms,  His  internal  was  divine  and  His 
external  human. 

Every  person  and  everything  has  an  internal  and  an  exter- 
nal. Every  internal  must  have  an  external,  or  it  has  no 
actual  existence.  Every  external  must  have  an  internal ;  or 
it  has  no  essence,  no  quality,  no  individuality,  and  has  no 
being,  or  is  not. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  expatiate  on  this  topic,  or  attempt 
to  pursue  it  with  any  fulness  of  statement  or  illustration.  It 
was  well  understood  once ;  but  has  been  forgotten ;  and  its 
novelty  now  may  make  it  obscure.  But  something  of  it  we 
must  understand,  if  we  would  understand  anything  of  that 
Being  whose  internal  was  divine,  and  his  external  human; 
and  whose  work  of  mercy  and  redemption  brought  this  exter- 


68  INTERNAL  AND  EXTERNAL. 

nal  human  into  obedience  to  and  absolute  union  with  tlie 
divine  internal. 

It  may  help  us  to  understand  the  difference  and  the  relation 
between  the  external  and  the  internal  of  man,  if  we  remember 
that  he  stands  between  that  which  is  lower  than  himself 
and  that  which  is  higher.  Below  and  outside  of  him  is  the 
world  in  which  he  lives,  and  all  things  there ;  and  with  all 
these  he  has  some  relations.  Because  he  has  these  relations, 
and  a  work  to  do  in  this  outward  world,  and  must  look  to  it 
for  the  means  of  sustaining  life,  and  for  many  of  his  enjoy- 
ments and  a  large  part  of  his  activity,  —  for  all  these  reasons, 
he  has  certain  faculties  and  inclinations  and  tastes  adapted  to 
these  things ;  or,  in  other  words,  he  is  himself  adapted  to 
them  by  certain  organs  of  his  body,  by  his  senses,  and  by 
certain  qualities,  capacities  and  dispositions  of  his  mind.  And 
all  there  is  of  the  man,  which  thus  lays  hold  of  the  outer 
world  and  that  which  grows  out  of  and  depends  upon  this  outer 
world, —  all  there  is  of  the  man  which  comes  in  contact  with 
this  world  by  the  touch,  by  the  senses,  or  by  thoughts  or 
affections  which  are  in  immediate  relation  to  this  world,  — 
all  this  part  of  the  man  is  the  external  of  the  man,  or  the 
external  man.  And  if  he  had  only  this  part,  whatever  might 
be  the  degree  of  its  culture  or  development,  he  would  be  lit- 
tle more  than  a  cultivated  and  developed  animal. 

He  has  however  not  only  this  part  of  himself,  but  another 
part ;  and  of  these  two  parts  the  whole  man  consists.  He  is 
an  animal,  because  he  has  an  external  man ;  but  he  is  also 
more  than  an  animal,  because  he  has  what  no  other  animals 
have,  an  internal  man.  He  has  a  twofold  aspect ;  one  turns 
towards  lower  and  outer  things  and  is  adequate  to  them ; 
and  this  is  his  external  man.  The  other  turns  towards  higlier 
and  inner  things  and  is  adequate  to  them ;  and  this  is  his 
internal  man. 

These  higher  and  inner  things  are  not  things  of  sense,  for 
they  are  things  of  thought  and  affection.     But  neither  are 


INTERNAL  AND  EXTERNAL.  59 

they  things  of  such  thought  and  affection  as  are  not  only 
born  of  the  senses  and  the  outlying  world,  but  cling  to  them, 
and  have  no  life  nor  strength  nor  joy  except  in  their  connec- 
tion with  or  relation  to  the  things  of  that  world.  These 
inner  and  higher  things  are  things  of  inner  and  higher 
thought,  affection,  desire,  activity  and  enjoyment. 

The  internal  of  man  looks  upward;  on  what?  God  is 
above  man ;  heaven  is  above  man ;  the  happiness  of  growth 
in  wisdom,  of  unselfish  love,  of  the  recognition  of  God  in 
this  world  and  in  His  laws  and  Providence,  and  progress  in 
the  ability  to  love  and  worship  and  obey  Him,  and  to  love 
others  as  His  children  and  therefore  our  brethren,  —  all 
this  is  higher  than  the  thoughts  or  the  delights  of  mere 
worldliness  or  sensuousness ;  and  therefore  the  internal  man, 
because  it  looks  upwards,  looks  to  all  these  things. 

But  the  man  consists  of  these  two  elements  of  being ;  of 
both ;  he  is  a  man  because  he  consists  of  both ;  and  one  is  as 
necessary  as  the  other,  because  both  are  indispensable.  The 
internal  could  not  exist  without  the  external,  any  more  than 
a  man  could  live  without  some  form,  some  way  of  being. 
Nor  can  the  external  of  man  exist  without  the  internal  man, 
because  it  is  this  which  constitutes  him  a  man,  and  without 
this  he  would  not  be  a  human  being. 

The  two  are  equally  indispensable.  And  as  nothing  can 
be  gained  by  the  effort  to  destroy  or  paralyze  either,  so  also 
it  is  not  wise  to  cultivate  and  invigorate  and  nourish  with 
indulgence  and  enjoyment,  the  one  of  these  at  the  expense 
of  the  other. 

Practically,  one  who  lives  only  in  the  external,  lives  only 
in  his  lower  faculties ;  and  whatever  may  be  the  appearance 
of  refinement  or  cultivation  about  him,  he  gradually  loses  all 
that  it  is  possible  for  him  to  lose  of  that  which  distinguishes 
him  from  the  lower  animals. 

On  the  other  hand,  one  who  lives  wholly  in  the  internal, 
makes  no  use  of  the  means  provided  for  him  to  grow  into 


60  INTERNAL  AND  EXTERNAL. 

the  fulness  of  a  true  manhood.  He  abandons  that  plane  of 
life  upon  which  he  can  enter  into  true  relations  with  his 
brethren.  His  affections  and  his  thoughts  have  no  sufficient 
foundation,  no  field  suitable  for  their  constant  and  healthy- 
exercise,  and  they  lose  the  guides  and  restraints  and  condi- 
tions which  are  mercifully  provided  for  him,  and  without 
them  his  affections  will  be  either  dissipated  into  nothingness, 
or  else  become  self-centred;  and  his  thoughts  will  become 
mere  fantasies. 

The  external  and  the  internal  man  are  both  and  equally 
necessary  and  indispensable.  But  the  great  and  eternal 
question  is,  which  of  them  rules  the  other. 

We  have  an  internal  man,  opened  upward,  and  are  thereby 
made  truly  men,  because  thereby  good  influences  may  enter 
into  the  internal  and  fill  it  and  be  appropriated  by  it  and 
made  its  own,  —  and  then  come  out  into  the  external  man, 
and  bring  that  into  obedience  and  conformity.  The  internal 
man  does  not  seek  to  slay  or  paralyze  the  external  man,  but 
to  fill  it  with  life ;  with  the  life  itself  has  received  from  above. 
This  is  the  true  work  of  human  life ;  it  is  the  great  end  for 
which  we  live  in  this  world. 

This  work  may  not  be  done.  It  is,  like  all  our  duty  and 
all  our  happiness,  submitted  to  our  freedom.  The  end  for 
which  we  ought  to  live  may  be  in  no  degree  attained.  For 
it  is  always  possible,  that  the  external  man  perfectly  com- 
mands the  internal,  and  perverts  or  silences  it ;  and  then  there 
may  be  the  semblance  of  peace.  But  when  this  is  not  the  case, 
then  between  the  internal  and  the  external  there  must  needs 
be  conflict  until  one  controls  the  other.  If  the  internal  pre- 
vails, the  man  is  saved  and  the  peace  of  heaven  comes  down. 
If  the  external  prevails,  the  man  is  lost,  and  goes  down  into 
whatever  of  repose  there  may  be  in  that  condition  which  is 
the  opposite  of  heaven. 

That  the  character  of  the  man,  here  and  hereafter,  depends 
upon  the  question  whether  the  internal  has  subjected,  or  has 


INTERNAL  AND  EXTERNAL.  61 

been  subdued  by,  the  external,  is  an  universal  law.  Like 
every  other  universal  law  it  is  easUy  seen  and  comprehended 
in  its  lowest  applications  and  effects ;  but,  if  we  trace  it  up- 
wards, it  hides  its  head  in  clouds;  because  far  above  us  it 
operates  upon  forms  and  modes  of  life  of  which  we  have  little 
comprehension,  and  mingles  with  other  laws  of  life,  which 
by  their  ascent  have  become  invisible.  Thus,  when  a  man  is 
strongly  moved  by  a  love  of  external  show  or  enjoyment,  and 
selfishly  desires  and  labors  to  be  rich,  or  honored,  or  powerful, 
or  splendid  and  admired,  or  to  indulge  in  some  sensual  plea- 
sure, —  if  he  be  not  altogether  lost,  he  will  find  some  feeling 
which  he  knows  to  be  better  than  those  which  urge  him  on, 
and  it  speaks  as  from  the  depths  of  his  consciousness,  and 
rebukes  those  wrongful  desires.  All  philosophy  and  meta- 
physics may  be  unknown  or  forgotten,  but  the  man  knows, 
and  knows  by  intuition  if  he  has  not  suppressed  his  intuition, 
that  the  motive,  affection  or  lust  which  lead  him  to  this  out- 
ward pleasure,  all  belong  to  his  outer  nature ;  while  the  prin- 
ciple, or  the  better  feeling,  which  warns  him  and  holds  him, 
belongs  to  his  inner  nature.  He  may  give  to  which  he  will 
the  victory ;  but  he  must  give  it  to  one.  If  he  permits  the 
outer  nature  to  be  triumphant,  it  will  afterwards  be  the 
stronger  for  this  victory,  and  the  good  within  will  be  weaker, 
and  its  voice  will  be  less  certain  and  less  strong,  and  he  will 
be  less  able  and  less  willing  to  hear  it,  although  that  voice  be 
not  wholly  silenced.  K  the  inner  and  better  nature  conquers, 
that  grows  stronger,  and  the  man  grows  better  and  wiser,  and 
more  able  to  resist  similar  or  farther  temptations  when  they 
come. 

Come  they  must ;  for  he  has  taken  only  the  first  step  in  a 
path  which  he  must  follow  far  onward.  And  every  step  will 
be  like  unto  the  first.  Every  step,  if  it  be  forwards,  will  be 
taken  by  permitting  the  inner  to  overcome  the  outer.  This 
is  Regeneration.  For  as  the  inner  overcomes  the  outer,  it 
cleanses  and  elevates  the  outer,  and  makes  it  one  with  itself. 


62  REOENERATION. 

We  have  said  that  it  is  no  part  of  the  inner  to  destroy  the 
outer,  for  it  seeks  to  give  to  it  a  true  life.  Hence,  with 
the  regenerate  man,  and  with  the  angel,  and  the  highest 
angel,  self-love  and  the  sensuous  nature  may  continue  for 
ever  to  be  vivid  and  powerful.  But  with  the  angel  self-love 
has  ceased  to  be  supreme  and  therefore  it  has  ceased  to  be 
selfishness ;  and  the  sensuous  nature  leads  him  not  to  sensu- 
ality. The  reason  is  that  these  belong  to  his  outer  nature ; 
and  his  inner  nature  has  not  only  conquered  them,  but  has 
made  them  its  own  external,  its  own  instrument  and  embodi- 
ment. The  regenerate  man  loves  self,  in  his  own  selfhood, 
dearly,  and  provides  for  it  most  tenderly  and  carefully,  and 
looks  after  its  nourishment  and  repose,  its  recreation,  enjoy- 
ment and  invigoration.  But  because  he  loves  his  neighbor  as 
himself,  in  all  his  love  for  himself  his  love  for  his  neighbor 
is  included.  Therefore,  his  endeavor  to  give  himself  strength 
has  for  its  end  the  continuance  and  enlargement  of  the  uses 
he  may  perform  by  means  of  this  invigorated  self.  He  desires 
to  be  strong,  healthy  and  happy,  and  is  wise  and  watchful  in 
all  precautions  for  this  purpose,  because  the  more  vigor  he 
has  the  more  useful  he  may  be.  So  too,  his  sensuous  nature 
is  indulged  and  cultivated,  but  always  within  the  bounds  of 
innocence ;  for  these  limits  are  fixed  by  his  inner  nature  ;  and 
his  outer  nature  yields,  for  it  has  become  more  perfectly  what 
it  was  originally  intended  to  be,  the  instrument  and  servant 
of  this  inner  nature. 

We  say  that  what  is  outermost  is  farthest  from  God ;  and 
what  is  inner  is  nearer  to  Him.  The  words  inner  and  outer, 
near  and  far,  higher  and  lower,  refer  originally  to  time  and 
space,  neither  of  which  belongs  to  the  soul  or  spirit  of  man. 
But  we  are  obliged  to  use  these  words  because  we  have  no 
other;  and  from  the  correspondence  between  things  of  the 
spirit  and  things  of  the  body,  they  express  our  meaning  suffi- 
ciently well.  We  should  not  be  troubled  by  a  vain  logic. 
To  refer  again  to  an  illustration  we  have  already  used,  he 


CONJUNCTION  OF  MAN  WITH  GOD.  63 

who  should  say  there  could  not  be  for  the  mind  a  right  rule, 
because  right  meant  only  a  right  or  straight  line,  as  it  certainly 
does  primarily,  and  rule,  only  the  straight  edge  of  wood  or 
metal  by  which  to  know  whether  a  line  was  straight  or  not,  — 
would  be  laughed  at.  For  when  we  say  "  right "  and  "  rule, " 
meaning  a  moral  or  mental  right  and  rule,  men  know  what 
we  mean,  whether  they  philosophize  about  it  or  not.  So  it  is 
with  the  words  outei  and  inner,  far  and  near,  higher  and 
lower,  as  applied  to  spiritual  things.  Or  so  it  will  be,  when 
it  is  usual  to  think  of,  or  speak  of,  or  care  for  spiritual 
things. 

What  is  outermost  is  farthest  from  God.  What  is  inner- 
most is  nearer  to  God.  Here  then  we  have  the  foundation 
of  the  universal  law,  that  all  spiritual  progress  consists  in  the 
subordination  of  the  outer  to  the  inner,  in  such  a  sense  and 
such  a  way,  that  the  inner  makes  the  freest  use  of  the  outer, 
and  the  outer,  in  its  own  freedom,  obeys  the  inner. 

This  law  ascends  to  the  very  highest.  From  our  low  and 
dark  point  of  view,  we  can  follow  it,  even  in  imagination,  but 
a  very  little  way.  We  may  however  see  that  it  leads  even 
towards  an  absolute  subordination  of  all  that  is  not  of  God,  to 
all  that  is  of  God ;  of  all  that  is  of  God  in  its  essence  and 
origin  but  has  become  perverted  and  corrupted  in  its  form, 
manifestation  and  effect,  to  all  that  is  of  God  and  unperverted ; 
to  an  absolute  infilling  of  all  that  is  not  divine  with  that 
which  is ;  and  to  a  perfect  cleansing  of  all  that  is  not  divine, 
and  by  this  cleansing,  and  in  the  degree  of  this  cleansing, 
fitting  this  external  to  become  the  clothing,  the  habitation, 
the  eternal  and  universal  instrument,  the  living  body,  of 
that  which  is  divine.  And  religion  gives  to  this  final  and 
consummated  state,  the  name  of  conjunction  between  the 
human  and  the  divine ;  or,  conjunction  of  man  with  God. 

Because  this  is  a  universal  law,  it  begins  in  the  lowest 
forms  of  spiritual  existence.  If  there  is  anything  of  good  in 
man,  so  much  of  the  divine  is  united  to  what  is  human.     If 


64  TEE   CLEANSING  OF  TEE  EXTERNAL. 

good  grows  in  him,  the  conjunction  of  the  divine  with  the 
human  grows.  For  the  human  without  the  divine  is,  first, 
nothing ;  and  then  if  the  divine  be  received,  but  by  the  abuse 
of  man's  freedom  is  perverted,  it  becomes  evil.  This  absolute 
conjunction  of  the  human  with  the  divine  is  the  end  which  we 
approach  from  the  first  moment  that  we  become  better  than 
we  were.  Unless  we  are  lost,  this  approach  will  be  eternal ; 
and  it  will  always  measure  our  approach  to  all  good,  and  to 
all  happiness. 

Because  God  is  good,  and  is  Love,  it  is  the  eternal  end  of 
his  infinite  providence  to  lead  and  help  men  along  this  path- 
way to  himself.  It  may  indeed  be  called  the  one  end,  and, 
because  it  unites  all  others,  the  only  end  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, to  enable  and  induce  man  to  do  his  share  of  this 
work. 

God's  own  share  is  to  come  down  to  us,  and  fill  the  inmost 
of  our  being,  and  thence  to  come  forth  and  forward  from  this 
inmost,  to  meet  and  welcome  whatever  there  is  in  us  which 
rises  to  approach  Him.  Of  this  inmost  of  our  being,  we  are 
wholly  imconscious ;  for  consciousness  belongs  only  to  our 
inner  and  our  outer  being.  He  animates  these  also ;  but 
with  a  life  duly  tempered  and  qualified  into  fitness  for  us  by 
the  angelic  or  spiritual  mediums  through  whom  it  flows.  He 
does  this  in  such  wise  as  to  provide  with  unutterable  and  in- 
conceivable wisdom,  exactly  that  degree  of  influence  upon  us 
which  shall  do  all  that  can  be  done  towards  leading  us  in 
freedom  to  good,  with  nothing  of  that  coercion  which  would 
destroy  our  freedom.  For,  as  the  work  for  man  to  do  is  to 
choose  good  rather  than  evil,  to  love  good  better  than  evil 
(and  love,  by  its  very  nature,  must  be  free),  this  work  would 
be  done  in  no  sense  and  in  no  degree  by  man,  if  it  were  only 
the  choice  of  God  in  man. 

How  this  work  of  infinite  wisdom  and  mercy  is  done  for  all 
for  us,  at  every  moment,  we  may  not  understand,  not,  at  least, 
while  it  is  going  on.     But  after  each  providence,  we  may  look 


DIVINE  PROVIDENCE.  65 

out  from  the  clefts  in  the  rock,  wherein  we  may  dwell,  and  see 
Him  after  He  has  passed  by.  But  neither  need  we  be  blind 
to  it,  even  at  the  time.  For  if  we  heartily  try  to  do  one 
good  thing  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  or  because  he  desires  it, 
we  shall  even  then  feel  and  see  that  it  is  we  who  do  it  in  ot.r 
freedom,  and  yet  that  we  so  do  it  because  he  helps  us. 

Because  there  is  this  work  for  man  to  do  in  his  freedom, 
he  is  free  to  leave  it  undone;  and  many  leave  it  undone. 
And  he  is  free  to  do  it  imperfectly ;  and  all  do  it  very  imper- 
fectly. But  it  remains  nevertheless  the  constant  end  of  the 
providence  of  God,  that  all  may  do  it  perfectly.  To  this  end 
all  his  providences,  whether  operative  in  physical  laws,  or 
revealed  as  truths,  or  hidden  far  away  from  the  recognition  of 
men ;  whether  universal  or  individual ;  all  tend  thither,  and 
in  it  all  unite,  and  always  have  united  and  always  will. 

The  last  and  greatest  providence  of  all,  one  towards  which 
all  that  came  before  pointed,  and  to  which  all  that  has 
come  or  shall  come  hereafter,  refers,  one  which  moved  and 
influenced  all  that  is,  from  the  centre  of  being  to  the  outer- 
most bounds  of  existence,  was  the  coming  of  God  down  to  this 
earth,  in  the  person  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 
And  in  His  birth,  and  in  His  life,  and  in  His  death,  and  in  all 
the  works  He  did  in  the  spirit-world  «ven  while  living  here, 
and  in  His  Resurrection,  we  have  the  history  of  the  great 
and  universal  endeavor  of  the  Divine  to  come  into  absolute 
union  with  the  human,  and  to  facilitate  forever  the  approach 
of  all  that  is  human  towards  conjunction  with  the  divine. 

Li  His  life  on  earth,  our  Lord  exhibited  the  externals  of 
those  acts  He  was  then  doing  in  the  world  of  spirit.  His 
external  and  visible  work  was  the  image  and  revelation  of 
His  internal  and  invisible  work.  The  words  He  uttered  were 
in  their  letter  and  external  divine  as  well  as  human;  for 
while  He  spake  as  a  man.  He  spake  as  never  man  spake.  But 
this  letter  was  also  the  form  and  expression  of  higher  divine 
truths,  by  which  He  works  spiritual  miracles  that  are  as  the 

5 


66  THE   QBE  ATE  ST  PROVIDENCE. 

soul  of  the  miracles  He  wrought  here.  Thus,  because  He  was 
divine,  His  acts  and  words  partook  of  His  eternalness,  and 
their  force  and  meaning  and  influence  are  eternal  and  univer- 
sal. And  the  works  He  then  did  among  the  spirits  in  the 
world  where  spirits  live,  which  were  shadowed  forth  and  pre- 
sented to  our  view  by  the  works  He  did  among  men  on  earth, 
are  similar  works,  for  a  similar  end,  to  the  works  He  is 
always  endeavoring  to  do ;  and  so  far  as  man  permits,  always 
does,  in  and  for  the  spirit  of  every  man. 

The  Jews  were  a  chosen  people ;  but  were  not  chosen  for 
their  excellence.  They  were  selected  to  form  the  mere  repre- 
sentative of  a  church.  Their  history  represents  the  history 
of  a  church  in  man,  or  of  divine  truth  in  the  mind.  Their 
bondage,  their  deliverance,  their  wanderings  in  the  desert, 
and  their  possession  of  the  holy  land,  are  all  symbolic  in  this 
way.  They  were  commanded  to  extirpate  the  nations  who 
possessed  that  land ;  and  the  command  represents  the  com- 
mand to  us  to  subdue  and  extirpate  the  idolatrous  and  sinful 
affections  and  thoughts  which  possess  what  should  be  our 
holy  land.  They  were  selected  for  this  purpose,  because 
their  extreme  and  entire  naturalness,  or  the  absolute  prepon- 
derance of  the  external  and  worldly  nature  in  them  (indi- 
cated by  the  fact  that  the  religion  given  to  them  alone 
among  the  religions  of  mankind,  makes  little  reference  to 
another  life)  made  it  possible  for  them  to  be  led  without 
mischief  through  experiences  which  would  have  been  in- 
jurious to  others. 

A  woman  of  this  nation  was  selected  to  be  the  mother  of 
our  Lord.  A  woman  of  the  house  of  David  the  king ;  for 
he  stood  at  the  head  of  his  nation,  and  was  always  regarded 
as  its  perpetual  head.  In  his  symbolic  capacity,  he  repre- 
sented Jehovah,  the  head  of  the  living  church,  while  in  his 
own  nature  he  was  the  embodiment  of  the  Jewish  character- 
istics.   Therefore  was  Jesus  the  son  of  David  in  both  senses. 


JESUS   THE  SON  OF  DAVID.  67 

His  human  was  the  last  result  of  Jewish  naturalness,  and  so 
He  was  the  son  of  David;  and  He  was  also  the  son  of 
David  as  the  representative  of  Jehovah,  for  Jehovah  was  his 
only  father.  His  father  did  not  impart  life  to  him  through 
the  qualifying  medium  of  a  human  father.  Jesus  Christ  was 
conceived,  or  Life  came  to  the  human  mother,  directly,  with- 
out qualification  or  modification  of  any  kind  or  measure. 

In  Jesus  Christ  were  an  internal  nature  and  an  external 
nature  as  in  every  man.  But  in  Him,  these  were  infinitely 
fer  apart.  The  external  nature  was  full  of  the  proclivities  to 
evil  which  infest  man.  The  internal  nature  was  perfect  and 
absolute  goodness.  Hence,  there  can  never  be  in  any  man,  so 
great  an  opposition  between  the  external  and  the  internal  as 
there  was  in  Him.  The  whole  external  was  gradually 
brought  forth  into  activity,  and  was  wholly  subdued  and 
subordinated  by  the  internal.  This  also  can  never  happen  in 
any  man.  In  Jesus  the  external  was  human  and  the  internal 
was  divine  ;  and  when  the  internal  had  overcome  and  expelled 
from  the  human  all  the  evil  from  the  mother,  or  everything 
in  the  nature  derived  from  her  which  belonged  to  it  person- 
ally and  individually  by  her  act  or  by  her  inheritance,  and 
had  filled  its  place  with  its  own  divine  good,  the  external  be- 
came divine  as  the  internal,  and  divine  with  the  internal ; 
and  they  became  one  God.  This  also  can  never  happen  with 
any  man.  As  the  whole  external  was  thus  brought  into  con- 
flict with  the  internal  and  subdued  and  vivified  by  it,  there 
was  in  that  external  all  the  suffering  due  to  that  infinite  con- 
flict ;  and  this  also  was  more  than  any  man  has  suffered  or 
can  suffer. 

We  have  enumerated  these  particulars,  in  which  the  ex- 
ample of  Jesus  cannot  be  followed  by  man ;  and  yet  it  will 
be  obvious,  that  while  it  cannot  be  followed  to  the  same  de- 
gree and  extent,  and  with  the  same  result,  it  may  be  followed, 
step  by  step,  in  every  respect  and  every  particular  of  every 
kind,  by  every  man,  but  in  an  infinitely  less  degree ;  and  is 


68  TEE  EXAMPLE   OF  JESUS. 

and  must  be  followed  by  every  one  who  advances  from  evil 
towards  good,  because  no  other  path  leads  in  that  direction. 
The  glorification,  or  making  divine  of  the  humanity  of  Jesus 
Christ,  was  the  doing  perfectly,  of  that  of  which  every  good 
action  is  the  partial  and  imperfect  doing. 

The  question  then  occurs,  in  what  way  does  this  perfect 
example  of  what  man  should  do,  assist  him  in  doing  it.  The 
very  question  suggests  one  answer  to  it.  A  perfect  example 
is  an  ever-present  standard,  an  everlasting  lesson.  But  this, 
which  is  the  most  obvious  answer  to  the  question,  is  also  the 
most  external  and  the  lowest. 

There  are  other  answers ;  one  within,  or  above  the  other ; 
bearing  us  upwards  in  their  own  ascending  flight.  This 
great  mystery  must  forever  remain  one  to  created  intellects. 
It  is  one  with  the  great  mystery  of  godliness.  But  it  will  be 
always  better  understood  as  man  or  angel  follows  in  the  path 
it  points ;  and  learns  what  was  done  by  doing  it ;  and  learns 
why  it  was  done  by  possessing  the  fruits  of  it.  Thus  it 
fills  every  mind  that  advances  along  that  path,  with  light  and 
hope  and  joy,  and  always  promises  from  the  inexhaustible 
wisdom  which  united  with  perfect  love  in  that  infinite  act, 
more  light,  and  always  and  forever,  more  light. 

It  was  imperfectly  understood  by  the  early  Christians ; 
and  soon  settled  into  forms  of  doctrine  which  have  remained 
to  our  own  time ;  and  these  contain  much  truth,  mingled  with 
much  that  is  not  truth.  One  great  want  in  the  view  taken  of 
it  by  the  first  Christian  church,  arose  from  their  ignorance  of 
what  our  Lord  was  doing  in  the  spiritual  world,  even  while 
he  was  working  visibly  on  earth.  This  want  has  been 
recently  supplied  in  the  revelations  made  for  the  new  Chris- 
tianity now  in  its  beginning.  And  the  information  thus 
given  is  the  key  which  may  unlock  this  mystery,  and  open 
this  new  gate  to  heaven. 

We  are  taught  that  all  men  are  constantly  under  the  influ- 
ence —  for  good  or  for  evil  —  of  spirits ;  and  that  the  life 


EOW  GOD   CREATES  MAN.  69 

which  flows  into  us  through  them,  in  them  is  qualified 
into  fitness  for  us,  and  becomes  our  own  life.  But  that  the 
divine  Providence  modifies,  balances  and  equilibrates  these 
influences  in  such  wise,  that  every  man  is  always  able  in  his 
own  freedom  to  rise,  if  he  will,  and  strengthen  the  good  that 
is  in  him,  and  this  more  and  more  continually. 

We  are  further  taught  that  at  the  coming  of  our  Lord,  man 
had  fallen  into  a  condition  so  debased  and  wretched,  that  aU 
evil  influences  had  undue  power  over  him ;  a  power  too  great 
for  his  freedom,  and  threatening  to  become  absolute  and  in- 
evitable. His  state  had  become  so  entirely  evil,  that  the 
balance  was  lost ;  and  evil  spirits  not  only  infused  thoughts 
and  affections  of  evil,  as  they  have  ever  done  and  will  do,  but 
were  enabled  to  take. bodily  possession  of  men ;  and  it  seemed 
as  if  destruction  was  near,  and  there  was  none  to  help. 

Then  help  came ;  sufficient,  because  it  was  Almighty ;  and 
came  in  such  a  form  that  its  work  might  be  perfect  and  per- 
manent. 

If  the  question  be  asked  why  did  not  God,  from  his  throne 
in  heaven,  will  at  once  the  extinction  of  evil  and  the  restora- 
tion of  order,  one  answer  is  to  point  at  the  mingled  good  and 
evil  everywhere,  and  say  that  this  proves  that  he  does  not  so 
resist  and  destroy  evil.  Another  answer  is,  that  God  always 
works  by  means,  and  according  to  the  laws  of  His  own  divine 
order ;  this  is  the  universal  law  of  His  providence,  and  it  was 
the  law  of  this  crowning  and  infinite  providence. 

God  made  man  —  makes  man  —  by  imparting  to  him  His 
own  life,  and  by  giving  to  His  life  in  man,  human  selfhood ; 
and  only  by  and  in  and  through  this  selfhood  does  He  ever  or 
can  He  ever  help  any  man ;  and  only  in  and  through  this 
human  nature  could  He  give  to  the  human  race  the  very 
help  that  they  needed ;  and  therefore  He,  the  Father,  assumed 
this  human  nature,  or  this  human  selfhood,  and  the  Son  of 
Gtod  became  the  Son  of  Man,  and  stood  and  worked  and 
suffered  among  men  as  one  of  them. 


70  THE  HELLS  SUBDUED. 

The  Father  came  down  to  humanity  in  a  new  way ;  and 
because  humanity  had  descended  so  low  that  it  could  fall  no 
lower  and  live,  the  human  nature  he  then  assumed  was  full 
of  all  proclivities  to  all  evil.  And  in  this  nature  and  these 
proclivities,  he  found  the  means  of  combatting  all  the  evil  in- 
fluences which  can  infest  humanity,  because  all  were  permitted 
to  assail  it  in  precisely  the  same  way  in  which  they  assail  our 
own  human  nature.  This  they  did;  and  the  conflict  with 
them  constituted  the  temptations,  the  inexpressible  and  incon- 
ceivable sufferings  of  our  Lord.  But  as  these  evil  spirits 
were  conquered,  and  when  all  were  conquered,  all  the  hells 
were  subdued  and  restored  to  their  own  proper  order.  Those 
who  filled  them,  and  those  who  have  joined  and  may  here- 
after join  them,  live,  and  live  without  voluntarily  doing  good. 
They  love  to  do  evil ;  and  only  in  their  own  loves  can  they 
live.  Hence,  they  are  not  denied  access  to  man  ;  for  his  re- 
generation, his  salvation  and  his  happiness,  depend  upon  his 
knowing,  combatting  and  putting  away  his  own  evils,  volun- 
tarily and  in  free  choice ;  and  the  tendencies  to  evil  in  men 
could  not  be  filled  and  animated  by  life  flowing  through  good 
spirits.  The  devils  are  permitted  to  live  and  do  their  proper 
work ;  and  earth  is  full,  and  we  are  all  full  of  the  work  they 
do.  War,  plague  and  famine,  the  great  calamities  which  dis- 
tress nations,  the  more  particular  mischiefs  which  fall  on  indi- 
viduals, all  disorder  and  all  sin,  are  their  work.  But  now 
they  work  forever  \mder  the  limitation  that  what  they  do 
shall  be  balanced  and  equilibrated.  However  they  may  here- 
after infest  or  tempt  man,  they  can  never  more  have  power 
to  prevent  his  resistance,  or  to  stir  up  lusts  and  propensities 
which  he  cannot  deny  and  overcome. 

Thus  was  man  Redeemed :  thus  was  Jesus  Christ  our  Re- 
deemer. 

Surely  He  has  borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our  sorrows. 
He  was  wounded  for  our  trangressions ;  He  was  bruised  for 
our  iniquities  ;  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  Him ; 
and  with  His  stripes  we  are  healed. 


OUR  LORD   OUR  HELPER.  71 

I  looked  and  there  was  none  to  help ;  and  I  wondered  that 
there  was  none  to  uphold.  Therefore  mine  own  arm  brought 
salvation. 

In  all  their  affliction  He  was  afflicted,  and  the  angel  of  His 
presence  saved  them.  In  His  love  and  pity,  He  Redeemed 
them. 

He  has  showed  strength  with  his  arm ;  He  hath  scattered 
the  proud  in  the  imagination  of  their  hearts.  He  has  holpen 
his  servant  Israel,  in  remembrance  of  his  mercy,  as  He  spake 
to  our  Fathers,  to  Abraham,  and  to  his  seed,  forever. 


72  EGYPT  ASSYRIA  AND  JUDEA. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

OF  THE  SOJOUKN  OF  OUR  LORD  IN  EGYPT. 

And  when  they  were  departed,  behold,  the  angel  of  the  Lord 
appeareth  to  Joseph  in  a  dream,  saying.  Arise,  and  take  the  young 
child  and  his  mother,  and  flee  into  Egypt,  and  be  thou  there  until  I 
bring  thee  word  :  for  Herod  will  seek  the  young  child  to  destroy  him. 

When  he  arose,  he  took  the  young  child  and  his  mother  by  night, 
and  departed  into  Egypt.  —  Matt.  ii.  13-15. 

The  correspondence  of  the  natural  or  external  things  men- 
tioned in  the  Word  with  spiritual  or  internal  things,  —  to 
which  we  have  so  often  alluded  and  must  so  often  allude,  — 
is  absolutely  universal ;  and  it  must  therefore  extend  to  the 
different  countries  there  mentioned,  and  give  to  each  its  own 
significance. 

The  three  countries  most  frequently  mentioned  are  Egypt, 
Assyria  (or  Asher),  and  Judea  (or  Israel).  What  is  the  sig- 
nificance of  each  of  these  ? 

There  are  three  distinct  and  successive  steps  or  degrees  in 
intellectual  progress.  We  may  call  them  knowledge,  intelli- 
gence, and  wisdom.  Or  we  may  describe  them  (1)  as  the 
learning  and  knowing  of  truths  of  any  kind ;  (2)  as  the  un- 
derstanding of  what  is  thus  known ;  and  (3)  the  applying  to 
the  improvement  of  life  and  character,  of  what  is  known  and 
understood ;  and  thus  growing  wise. 

It  is  obvious  that  if  nothing  whatever  is  known,  there  can- 
not be  even  the  beginning  of  intellectual  progress.  It  is 
equally  obvious,  that  whatever  be  the  amount  of  our  mere 
knowledge,  if  we  understand  nothing  that  we  know,  we  know 
it  in  vain.     And  it  is  equally  certain,  although  not  equally 


OOING  DOWN  TO  EGYPT.  73 

obvious,  that  whatever  it  may  be  that  we  know  and  under- 
stand, we  are  in  fact  none  the  better  for  it,  and  none  the 
wiser  for  it,  if  we  make  and  desire  to  make  no  application  of  it 
to  the  improvement  of  life  and  character. 

In  the  Word,  Egypt  denotes  the  learning  and  knowing  of 
truths,  or  the  truths  thus  known.  Asher  denotes  the  reason- 
ing faculties  by  which  we  understand  what  we  know,  or  this 
understanding  itself.  And  Judea  (or  Israel)  denotes  that 
wisdom  which  is  founded  upon  knowing  and  understanding 
truth  and  applying  it  to  life. 

As  we  learn  only  by  the  exercise  of  the  external  or  natu- 
ral faculties,  Egypt  frequently  denotes  all  of  these  faculties  in 
the  complex,  or  the  merely  natural  man.  So  Judea  (or 
Israel)  represents  and  denotes  a  church,  because  a  church  iu 
man's  own  soul  is  the  result  of  knowing  truths,  —  especially 
the  truths  of  the  Word,  —  and  understanding  them,  and 
applying  them  to  life ;  and  a  collective  church  is  formed  from 
the  union  of  those  in  whom  this  condition  prevails. 

All  progress,  intellectual  or  moral,  must  begin  with  learn- 
ing and  knowing ;  and  this  is  what  is  represented  by  Egypt, 
and  going  down  into  Egypt. 

Abraham,  as  the  father  and  founder  of  a  church,  represented 
and  prefigured  our  Lord.  When  seventy  and  five  years  of 
age,  but  at  the  beginning  of  his  spiritual  life,  the  Lord  called 
him,  to  go  out  from  his  country,  his  kindred,  and  his  father's 
house,  that  is,  from  all  he  was  by  birth  and  nature,  unto  a 
land  which  God  shoidd  show  him.  And  he  journeyed  "  going 
on  still  towards  the  south.  And  there  was  a  famine  in  the 
land ;  and  Abram  went  down  into  Egj'pt  to  sojourn  there." 
And  after  a  while,  he  "  went  up  out  of  Egypt." 

So  Jacob,  another  father  of  the  Jews,  and  another  and  dif- 
ferent antetype  of  the  Lord,  was  driven  by  famine  into 
Egypt.  He  did  not  return  during  his  life,  but  required  of 
his  children  that  they  should  "  carry  him  out  of  Egypt,  and 
bury  him  with  his  fathers." 


74'  A  FAMINE  NOT  OF  BREAD. 

Joseph  was  another  and  a  very  different  antetype  of  our 
Lord ;  and  his  whole  story  in  its  spiritual  sense  is  a  perfectly 
connected,  consistent,  and  most  wonderful  relation  of  our 
Lord's  spiritual  life  while  on  earth,  and  of  His  spiritual  life 
in  the  mind  of  every  man  in  whom  He  dwells.  Joseph  said 
to  his  brethren,  that  God  would  surely  visit  them,  and  bring 
them  up  out  of  Egypt  to  Canaan,  and  that  they  should  carry 
up  his  bones  from  Egypt. 

So  too  our  Lord  went  down  into  Egypt,  and  there  sojourned 
a  while.  For  His  human  nature  was  subject  to  all  the  laws 
and  necessities  of  our  own.  He  was  initiated  into  knowl- 
edges, and  especially  into  knowledges  of  the  "Word,  and  passed, 
step  by  step,  there  where  we  may  pass,  and  must  pass,  if  we 
would  follow  Him.  And  this  is  what  is  meant  by  His  going 
down  into  Egypt. 

It  is  not  said  that  the  child  Jesus  was  driven  into 
Egypt  by  a  famine,  but  by  the  fear  of  Herod,  who  sought  to 
kill  Him.  The  meaning  is  substantially  the  same.  The  fam- 
ine, from  which  they  are  saved  who  go  down  into  Egypt,  is  a 
famine  for  the  truth ;  for  the  knowledge  of  what  is  good  is 
the  food  of  the  mind,  and  the  knowledge  of  what  is  true  is  its 
drink.  It  is,  as  said  by  the  prophet,  "  a  famine,  not  of  bread, 
nor  a  thirst  for  water,  but  of  hearing  the  words  of  the  Lord." 
And  because  this  is  what  famine  corresponds  to  and  signifies, 
it  is  mentioned  so  perpetually  when  the  declining  state  of  the 
Jewish  Church  is  referred  to. 

Herod,  the  king  of  the  Jews,  impersonated,  as  it  were,  and 
represented,  in  that  passage  and  in  all  others,  the  whole  nature 
and  genius  of  Judaism ;  and  not  as  it  existed  in  that  people 
and  in  that  age  only,  but  as  it  exists  in  all  men  at  all  times. 
It  is  perfectly  opposed  to  internal  and  spiritual  life ;  and  when 
this  spiritual  life  dawns  in  the  mind,  hates  it  and  fears  it  and 
is  anxious  to  slay  it,  even  as  was  Herod.  But  it  cannot  do 
this,  if  the  growing  goodness  is  nourished  and  protected  by 
knowledges  of  God's  truth   derived  from  His  Word.     For 


THE  CHILDHOOD   OF  OUR  LORD.  75 

then  the  infantile  goodness  goes  down  into  Egypt,  and  is  fed 
there,  and  is  safe  from  the  hostility  of  Herod. 

Our  Lord  passed  through  all  the  steps  which  we  must  pass 
through ;  but  with  a  more  perfect  result,  not  only  at  the  end, 
but  at  the  beginning,  and  on  the  way.  He  grew  in  knowl- 
edge and  in  wisdom,  as  no  other  can ;  and  He  needed  so  to 
grow,  that  He  might  be  protected  from  dangers  and  infesta- 
tions which  can  assail  no  man,  nor  be  endured  by  man  alone. 

Thus  it  is  not  only  said  generally,  that  He  increased  in 
wisdom  and  stature  and  in  favor  with  God  and  men ;  but  it 
is  specifically  stated,  that  he  was  not  in  youth  as  others  are ; 
for  "  all  who  heard  Him  were  astonished  at  His  understand- 
ing." 

Even  at  that  early  age.  He  knew  who  His  Father  was,  and 
what  work  was  given  Him  to  do.  "I  must  be  about  my 
Father's  business."  And  every  genuine  spiritual  emotion  in 
the  mind,  however  immature  it  may  be,  is  apt  to  recognize  its 
own  Divine  origin,  so  far  at  least  as  to  see  that  it  comes 
down  from  above  as  the  gift  of  infinite  mercy  to  our  poor, 
humble  and  perishing  nature,  and  comes  with  a  demand  that 
we  should  hate  our  own  natural  lives,  if  we  would  do  our 
Father's  will,  and  receive  a  new  life  from  Him. 

Let  us  see,  however,  what  more  is  said  of  Egypt,  Asher 
and  Judea ;  and  what  instruction  is  given  under  these  sym- 
bols. 

Every  human  faculty  and  every  gift  of  God  to  man  is 
given  to  his  freedom,  and  therefore  may  be  abused  and  per- 
verted. Nothing  may  be  learned  but  falsity.  Nothing  may 
be  understood  except  in  a  way  to  favor  and  confirm  falsities. 
And  nothing  but  these  falsities  so  understood  may  be  applied 
to  life. 

Hence  Egypt,  Asher,  and  Judea,  and  almost  every  other  of 
the  most  important  words  of  Scripture,  denote  and  signify  in. 
some  places  things  which  are  perfectly  opposite  to  what  they 
denote  and  signify  in  others.     "Which  of  the  two  they  denote 


76  EGYPT  AND  ASSYRIA. 

may  be  known  —  for  the  most  part  easily  —  by  the  context 
and  subject-matter. 

The  difficulty  may  here  present  itself,  that  the  acquisition 
of  knowledge  begins  when  the  babe  first  opens  its  eyes ;  and 
upon  the  increase  of  knowledge  depends  our  intellectual 
growth ;  and  with  the  unending  capacity  of  perpetual  increase 
of  knowledge,  the  possibility  of  eternal  happiness  is  closely 
connected.  How  then  can  knowledge  and  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge  be  mischievous  ?  So,  our  reasoning  faculties  dis- 
tinguish us  intellectually  from  brutes ;  and  it  is  the  use  of 
these  faculties  which  gives  to  us  all  the  intelligence  we  can 
have.  How  then  can  these  very  faculties  lead  to  darkness 
and  desolation  ? 

Egypt,  as  the  representative  and  symbol  of  knowledge, 
and  Assyria  (or  Asher),  as  the  representative  and  symbol  of 
reasoning,  are  very  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, —  especially  in  the  prophets,  —  in  two  precisely  difTer- 
ent  and  opposite  ways ;  at  one  time,  with  a  reprobation  which 
amounts  to  a  curse,  and  with  almost  fierce  denunciation  and 
threat  of  woe  and  utter  desolation ;  at  another  with  every 
promise  of  blessing.  All  this  is  explained  by  the  science  of 
correspondence.  Such  passages,  read  in  its  light,  illustrate 
the  laws  and  conditions  of  progress  in  wisdom  and  happiness, 
and  the  perils  of  darkness  and  spiritual  death  which  are 
always  very  near  us. 

All  truths  which  it  is  possible  to  know,  all  indeed  which 
exist,  necessarily  relate  either  to  things  of  the  spirit,  or  to 
things  of  the  body,  for  of  these  two  things  all  that  has  ever 
existed  or  ever  can  exist,  consist. 

These  two  classes  of  truths  stand  in  a  definite  relation  to 
each  other.  And  the  knowledge  and  understanding  of  each  of 
them  is  necessary  for  a  just  and  wise  understanding  of  the 
other.  To  those  who  have  not  yet  reflected  on  the  subject, 
it  might  seem  to  be  a  matter  of  indifference,  or  at  most  of 
mere  taste  and  convenience,  which  of  these  two  an  inquirer 


THE  SOUL  MORE   THAN  THE  BODY.  77 

begins  with  and  from  it  passes  to  the  other.  But  while  the 
truths  one  learns  by  sense  and  sensuous  thought  must  be  first 
in  the  order  of  time,  sijiritual  truths,  or  truths  relating  to  the 
spirit,  or  truths  transcending  space  and  time,  —  we  may  use 
which  phrase  we  please,  —  must  be  held  as  prior  in  degree 
and  value,  and  to  them  all  lower  truths  and  knowledges  should 
be  subordinate  and  instrumental. 

The  soul  is  more  than  the  body.  The  body  is  for  the  sake 
of  the  soul.  The  vital  power  of  the  soid  forms  the  body,  and 
makes  it  to  be  alive,  and  to  live  as  its  instrument.  So  it  is 
with  the  relation  of  spirit  to  matter  on  the  largest  or  the  uni- 
versal scale.  It  is  for  the  sake  of  the  world  of  spirit,  and  as 
its  instrument,  that  the  material  world  exists.  Spiritual  life, 
and  all  things  of  the  spirit,  and  all  truths  relating  to  the 
spirit,  come  down  to  man  from  above.  Therefore  man  can- 
not see  them  without  looking  upwards. 

The  spirit,  and  not  the  body,  sees  and  knows ;  but  to  see 
and  know  things  of  the  body,  or  of  the  outer  world,  the  spirit 
looks  down  and  outward  through  the  senses  of  the  body.  If 
then  the  mind,  looking  down  and  outward  through  the  senses 
and  sensuous  thought,  sees  and  knows  the  things  and  truths 
wliich  belong  to  the  body  and  its  world,  and  then  seeks  after 
the  things  and  truths  of  the  spirit  by  looking  still  further 
in  the  same  direction,  it  can  never  find  them ;  and  it  can 
never  find  anything  but  falsity  and  darkness,  denial  and 
desolation. 

The  mind  cannot  see  God,  except  by  looking  upward ;  it 
can  receive  no  spiritual  truths  except  by  receiving  them  from 
above,  and  can  receive  none  from  above  without  acknowledg- 
ing them  as  coming  from  above."  The  senses  of  men,  and 
thought  founded  upon  the  senses,  let  them  reach  any  imagin- 
able point  of  cultivation,  are  always  utterly  unable,  of 
themselves,  even  to  suggest  the  first  or  slightest  truth  con- 
cerning God  or  the  spirit.  And  the  reason  why  no  men  in 
any  age  are  wholly  without  such  truths  or  thoughts,  is,  that 


78  SENSUOUS  THOUGHT. 

from  the  beginning  the  mercy  of  the  Lord  has  in  some  way 
revealed  something  of  Himself  and  of  the  spirit-world,  and 
has  always  preserved  this  knowledge  from  utter  extinction, 
because,  if  there  were  such  extinction,  mankind  would 
perish. 

The  senses  and  sensuous  thought  can  discover  nothing 
whatever  of  truth  concerning  God  and  the  spirit.  The 
merely  natural  understanding,  be  its  power,  its  acquisitions 
or  its  cultivation  what  they  may,  so  long  as  pride  in  its  own 
sufficiency  blinds  it,  can  see  only  natural  truth,  and  must  deny 
all  supernatural  truth,  and  desire  to  expel  it  from  what  one 
may  still  call  his  religion,  or  even  his  Christianity.  But  if  a 
man  accepts  religious  truths  from  above  (from  the  Word  of 
God,  from  religious  instruction,  or  the  teachings  and  im- 
pressions of  his  childhood,  or  any  of  the  sources  by  which 
God  gives  this  truth  to  him),  and  is  willing  to  say,  this  is  not 
my  own  discovery,  made  by  my  own  strength,  he  may  bring 
it  down  into  nature  and  natural  science,  and  find  for  it 
nourishment,  confirmation,  unending  development  growth 
and  fruitfulness,  in  the  illustration  which  things  of  the  senses 
and  of  sensuous  thought  cast  upon  it.  And  that  it  may  effect 
this  very  purpose,  and  do  this  great  good,  the  outer  world, 
which  we  lay  hold  of  with  our  senses,  and  investigate  and 
understand  by  sensuous  thought,  is  constructed  as  the  clothing 
and  the  outgrowth,  the  manifestation  and  the  symbol,  of  the 
inner  world. 

As  this  is  an  universal  truth,  it  is  true  in  all  the  degrees 
or  upon  all  the  planes  of  thought.  Hence,  one  who  begins 
in  simplicity  with  the  religious  truth  he  reads  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  honestly  accepts  'this,  will  find  constant  confirma- 
tion and  illustration  of  it  in  all  the  knowledge  he  acquires  of 
the  outer  world  or  by  the  experiences  of  life,  and  so  will  grow 
wiser.  And  the  wiser  a  man  grows,  or  the  higher  he  ascends 
towards  the  origin  of  truth,  the  more  truth  he  will  receive 
from  the  Divine  revelations,  and  the  more  confirmation  and 


DENIAL   OF  SPIRITUAL   TRUTH.  79 

illustration  of  this  truth  will  he  derive  from  below.  To  this 
progress  there  can  be  no  end.  The  more  he  learns  of  the 
spiritual  treasures  which  lie  interiorly  in  the  Word,  and 
which  come  to  him  from  its  letter  and  by  just  reasoning  from 
spiritual  truth  concerning  the  letter  and  its  significance,  the 
more  he  will  find  all  he  thus  learns  confirmed  and  illustrated 
by  the  wonderful  forms  and  forces  and  laws  of  the  material 
world,  as  they  open  before  him. 

The  opposite  course  presents  a  melancholy  picture.  Begin- 
ning with  the  science  of  nature  as  a  starting  point,  and  en- 
deavoring by  this,  and  in  one's  own  strength,  to  penetrate 
the  mysteries  of  the  spirit ;  beginning  with  utter  ignorance 
and  denial  of  spiritual  truth,  unless  the  mind  can  prove  it 
through  sensuous  thought  or  merely  natural  ratiocination 
and  then  claim  it  as  its  own  work ;  beginning  with  a  firm 
grasp  of  natural  and  external  truth,  and  an  habitual  contem- 
plation of  it  and  devotion  to  it,  and  a  trust  in  one's  own  self- 
intelligence  which  makes  it  the  standard  for  spiritual  truth, 
and  excludes  all  spiritual  truth  which  is  not  its  fruit,  —  then 
every  step  will  be  downward ;  and  by  all  increase  of  know- 
ledge which  is  so  used,  the  ignorance  of  spiritual  truth  will  be 
deepened,  and  the  denial  of  it  made  more  absolute ;  —  more 
absolute  in  fact,  although  it  may  be  able  to  refine  and  dilute 
matter  until  it  is  called  spirit,  or  some  other  form  or  disguise 
of  denial  is  put  on. 

Egypt  representing  knowledges  or  scientifics  of  all  kinds, 
true  or  false,  and  Assyria  representing  reasoning  from  them 
or  concerning  them,  a  very  large  class  of  the  passages  of 
Scripture  concerning  Egypt  and  Assyria  relate  to  this 
dangerous  and  destructive  inversion  of  the  true  order  of 
thought.  No  wonder  that  they  paint,  as  distinctly  as  words 
can,  scenes  of  woe  and  darkness  and  death. 

The  nineteenth  chapter  of  Isaiah  begins,  "  The  burden  of 
Egypt."  Then  it  goes  on  with  the  most  vivid  description  — 
when  made  significant  by  correspondence  —  of  the  effect  upon 


80  THE  DAY  OF  THE  LORD. 

the  mind,  of  merely  natural  knowledge  and  natural  reasoning, 
and  the  pursuit  of  that  knowledge,  and  trust  in  that  knowl- 
edge, —  if  the  starting  point  and  the  constant  guide  be  not 
an  acknowledgment  of  God's  own  Word.  But  at  the  close, 
the  picture  is  reversed.  "That  day"  is  now  described  in 
which  "  there  shall  be  an  altar  to  the  Lord  in  the  midst  of 
the  land  of  Egypt."  Then  is  this  knowledge  consecrated, 
and  then  salvation  and  blessedness  are  promised.  Through 
all  these  passages  it  must  be  noticed,  that  it  is  not  a  mere 
poetical  analogy  or  figure,  but  an  actual  correspondence  which 
is  true  in  all  its  details  and  particulars ;  and  so,  where  it  is 
said  in  this  chapter,  that  "  the  waters  shall  fail  from  the  sea  " 
and  "  the  river  shall  be  wasted  and  di-ied  up,"  and  "  the 
brooks  of  defence  shall  be  wasted  and  dried  up,"  and  "  the 
reeds  and  flags  shall  wither,"  and  "  the  fishers  shall  mourn  — 
and  lament  —  and  languish  "  (water  being  —  as  all  who  have 
any  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  correspondence  are  aware  —  the 
most  general  symbol  or  representative  of  truth),  these  are  not 
mere  instances  of  "  oriental  imagery,"  but  a  presentation  of 
details,  all  with  their  special  significance,  and  all  together 
making  up  the  general  statement ;  the  key  to  which  is,  that 
all  knowledge,  which  is  neither  understood  aright  nor  applied 
aright  to  life  and  conduct,  must  itself  perish  from  the  mind, 
if  not  in  this  world,  then  inevitably  in  the  other. 

So  horses  always  represent  and  signify,  as  has  been  said 
and  illustrated  in  another  place,  that  faculty  by  which  we 
advance  in  the  ways  of  truth  or  of  falsity ;  and  chariots,  in 
which  the  horses  bear  along  the  riders,  have  a  similar  though 
still  a  different  signification ;  and  the  woes  repeatedly  pro- 
nounced on  those  who  trust  in  them  are  in  fact  pronounced 
on  those  who  trust  in  their  own  strength  of  intellect,  with  no 
sincere  and  reverent  recognition  of  God,  and  His  "Word,  and 
the  need  of  His  help.  Thus  in  the  thirty-first  chapter  of 
Isaiah, "  Woe  unto  them  that  go  down  to  Egypt  for  help,  and 
stay  on  horses  and  trust  in  chariots,  because  they  are  many. 


BROKEN  CISTERNS.  81 

and  in  horsemen  because  they  are  very  strong ;  but  they  look 
not  unto  the  God  of  Israel,  neither  seek  the  Lord.  .  .  . 
The  Egyptians  are  men,  and  not  God ;  and  their  horses  Jlesh, 
and  not  spirit  (or  merely  natural,  and  not  spiritual).  .  .  . 
Then  shall  the  Assyrian  fall  with  the  sword  (or  the  misused 
faculty  of  reasoning  will  perish),  ...  he  shall  flee  from 
the  sword,  and  his  young  men  shall  be  discomfited." 

In  the  second  chapter  of  Jeremiah,  "  Is  Israel  a  servant,  is 
he  spoiled?  .  .  .  They  have  forsaken  me,  the  fountain  of 
living  waters,  and  hewed  them  out  cisterns,  broken  cisterns, 
that  hold  no  water.  .  .  .  Hast  thou  not  procured  this 
unto  thyself,  in  that  thou  hast  forsaken  the  Lord  thy  God, 
when  he  led  thee  by  the  way.  What  hast  thou  to  do  in  the 
way  of  Egypt,  to  drink  the  waters  of  Sihor  ?  or  what  hast 
thou  to  do  in  the  way  of  Assyria,  to  drink  the  waters  of  the 
river?"  Where  waters,  as  elsewhere,  signify  primarily 
truths,  but  in  their  perversion,  falsities.  And  in  the  seventh 
chapter  of  Hosea,  "  Ephraim  is  like  a  silly  dove ;  they  call  to 
Egypt,  they  go  to  Assyria.  .  .  .  Woe  unto  them !  for  they 
have  fled  from  me  ;  destruction  unto  them  ! " 

Commentators  upon  Scripture  have  sometimes  explained 
these  passages,  or  such  parts  of  them  as  they  can,  by  refer- 
ring them  to  the  efforts  of  Israel  to  seek  the  assistance  of 
Egypt  in  their  wars.  The  historical  facts  on  which  this  ex- 
planation rests  are  doubtful ;  but  there  is  probably  some 
truth  in  them.  For  throughout  the  history  of  the  children 
of  Israel,  they  were  so  led  as  often  to  illustrate  by  facts  the 
significance  and  symbolism  of  Scriptui-e. 

There  is,  however,  another  side  of  this  picture ;  one  for 
which  it  is  difficult  even  to  attempt  any  explanation  other 
than  the  perfect  explanation  given  by  the  laws  of  corrjespon- 
dence.  To  understand  this  picture  we  must  remember  that 
the  mercy  of  God  never  fails,  never  wearies,  never  despairs. 
Whatever  may  be  the  delays  or  obstructions  interposed  by 
that  freedom  of  man  which  that  mercy  always  preserves  as- 

6 


82  IHE  BLESSING   UPON  EGYPT. 

the  foundation  of  all  its  gifts,  that  mercy  will  one  day  be 
triun>phant ;  and  is  triumphant  every  day  in  him  who  turns 
from  his  evil  and  mistaken  ways  that  he  may  live.  "  In  that 
day  shall  there  be  an  highway  out  of  Egypt  to  Assyria,  and 
the  Assyrian  shall  come  into  Egypt,  and  the  Egyptian  into 
Assyria,  and  the  Egyptians  shall  serve  with  the  Assyrians. 
In  that  day  shall  Israel  be  the  third  with  Egypt  and  with 
Assyria,  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of  the  land ;  whom  the  Lord 
of  hosts  shall  bless,  saying.  Blessed  be  Egypt  my  people, 
and  Assyiia  the  work  of  my  hands,  and  Israel  my  inheri- 
tance." 

This  is  a  living  portraiture  of  a  mind  already  knowing, 
intelligent,  and  wise,  and  advancing  in  a  way  of  wisdom 
which  shall  have  no  end.  For  "  in  that  day  "  of  the  mind  a 
way  is  opened  from  Egypt  to  Assyria,  so  that  nothing  can  be 
learned  and  no  addition  made  to  knowledge  already  possessed, 
which  does  not  become  at  once  material  for  just  reasoning. 
And  "  the  Assyrian  shall  come  into  Egypt ; "  for  all  such 
reasoning  upon  acquired  knowledge  returns  again  to  Egypt, 
for  further  increase  and  discovery  of  knowledge.  And 
"  Israel  is  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of  the  land  ; "  for  religious 
and  spiritual  truth  is  honestly  and  fervently  held  and  rev- 
erently acknowledged  as  the  centre  and  source  of  all  wisdom, 
and  the  guide  of  all  reasoning;  and  finds  in  the  whole 
expanse  of  creation  constant  increase  of  knowledge,  and  in  all 
reason  constant  confirmation  and  illustration. 

It  is  not  enough  that  "  we  go  down  into  Egypt,"  or  that 
we  acquire  knowledges  of  spiritual  and  religious  truths.  The 
question  is,  what  do  we  with  them?  If  we  reason  about 
them  in  the  pride  of  our  own  intelligence ;  if  we  say  of  God's 
"Word,  or,  without  saying  it,  if  we  think,  that  we  are  wiser 
than  it  is,  and  will  take  what  seems  to  us  true,  and  call  the 
rest  mistaken,  we  may  think  ourselves  wise  and  make  some 
others  think  so;  but  we  "have  forsaken  the  fountain  of 
living  waters,  and  hewed  out  for  ourselves  broken  cisterns 


BEMAINS.  88 

that  hold   no   water;"   and   all   the   woes   and   desolations 
threatened  against  Egypt  and  Assyria  will  rest  upon  us. 

REMAINS. 

In  this  chapter  I  speak  of  the  childhood  of  our  Lord ;  and 
in  this  connection  better  perhaps  than  elsewhere,  I  may  refer 
to  an  important  doctrine  of  the  New  Church.  It  is  called 
by  us  the  doctrine  of  Remains ;  for  by  this  word  we  trans- 
late Swedenborg's  Latin  word,  Reliquiae.  It  is  founded  on  the 
truth,  now  universally  admitted,  of  the  indestructible  perma- 
nence of  all  thoughts  and  feelings,  of  all  states  of  the  under- 
standing or  of  the  will.  They  may  pass  from  the  memory, 
or  rather  so  far  down  into  the  depths  of  the  memory,  that 
they  are  beyond  our  power  of  recall.  But  there  they  are. 
Swedenborg  founds  on  this  law  of  our  nature,  his  views  of 
the  unspeakable  importance  of  childhood.  Whatever  impres- 
sions are  then  made,  remain,  and  are  forms  which  may  be 
filled,  or  rather  living  seeds  which  may  be  made  to  germinate 
by  later  influences.  And  these  remains  thus  formed  in  child- 
hood are  the  instruments  by  which  the  regeneration,  the  sal-^ 
vation  of  man,  is  wrought,  after  he  has  attained  the  freedom 
of  maturity. 

To  some  extent  the  question  what  impressions  shall  be 
made  upon  the  childlike  mind  and  heart  is  submitted  to  the 
action  and  determination  of  those  about  the  child.  But 
there  are  other  and  higher  influences  at  work,  and  all  are 
overruled,  guided  and  provided  for  all  children.  All  begin 
conscious  life  in  utter  weakness  and  dependence ;  and  the 
impression  thus  made  can  be  revived  when  it  can  be  filled 
with  a  sense  of  dependence  upon  God,  of  trust  in  Him,  of 
confidence  in  His  care  and  love.  All  children  —  it  may  be 
hoped  that  all  —  experience  more  or  less  of  kindness  and 
affection  from  their  companions  and  their  elders ;  and  when 
the  sense  of  gratitude  and  love  once  lives  within  them,  it 
never  dies  however  it  may  slumber. 


84  BEMAINS. 

* 

It  is  the  universal  law  of  human  life,  that  the  child  begins 
to  live  in  a  relation  to  its  parents  or  to  those  who  stand  in 
the  place  of  parents,  which  causes  in  its  earhest  conscious- 
ness, a  sense  that  from  them  come  aU  things  whatever. 
The  child  turns  to  them  for  food,  for  care,  for  solace  if  in 
distress,  for  all  that  its  infantile  wishes  or  needs  require. 
This,  I  repeat,  is  an  universal  law ;  for  so  it  is  provided  of 
divine  mercy,  because  all  of  these  impressions  combine  to 
form  what  may  be  called  a  vessel  of  the  mind,  into  which 
may  be  poured  in  later  life,  correspondent  feehng  in  relation 
to  the  father  and  the  mother  of  the  soul ;  to  our  Father  in 
heaven ;  to  the  church  which  He  has  formed  to  feed  us  with 
the  bread  of  life,  to  clothe  our  minds  with  the  raiment  of 
truth,  to  take  us  by  the  hand  when  we .  begin  to  tread  with 
faltering  footsteps  the  path  of  life,  to  care  for  us  in  all  peril, 
to  take  us  to  its  arms  in  all  distress.  This  is  the  work  which 
He  desires  may  be  done  by  every  church  which  He  estab- 
lishes. And  He  desires  that  every  mother  should  do  a  cor- 
respondent work  for  her  child,  that  the  higher  work  of  the 
spiritual  mother  may  also  be  done. 

And  then  all  the  thoughts,  affections,  words,  acts,  all  im- 
pressions and  states,  whether  intellectual  or  affectional,  which 
we  experience  in  this  life,  Remain.  Not  one  is  lost  or  ever 
can  be.  And  when  we  pass  into  the  other  life,  infinite  love 
guided  by  infinite  wisdom,  calls  up  from  unconsciousness,  all 
of  those  states  which  can  be  made  the  means  of  improving 
our  characters  and  advancing  our  happiness.  We  go  into 
the  other  world,  filled  with  possibilities,  with  living  germs 
of  intellect  or  affection.  We  live  here  that  we  may  become 
filled  with  them.  And  what  we  are  there,  whether  happy, 
or  in  what  way  or  degree  happy,  must  depend  upon  the  actu- 
alities into  which  these  possibilities  may  be  developed ;  upon 
the  fruits  which  those  plants  may  yield  into  which  the  living 
germs  we  bear  with  us  may  grow. 


OUR  LORD'S  TEMPTATIONS.  85 


CHAPTER  Y. 

OF  OUR  LORD'S  TEMPTATIONS  IN  THE  WILDERNESS. 

I  Then  was  Jesus  led  up  of  the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness  to  be 
tempted  of  the  devil. 

2  And  when  he  had  fasted  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  he  was 
afterwards  an  hungered. 

3  And  when  the  tempter  came  to  him,  he  said.  If  thou  be  the  Son 
of  God,  command  that  these  stones  be  made  bread. 

4  But  he  answered  and  said.  It  is  written,  Man  shall  not  live  by 
bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of 
God. 

5  Then  the  devil  taketh  him  up  into  the  holy  city,  and  setteth  him 
on  a  pinnacle  of  the  temple, 

6  And  saith  unto  him.  If  thou  be  the  son  of  God,  cast  thyself 
down ;  for  it  is  written,  He  shall  give  his  angels  charge  concerning 
thee  :  and  in  their  hands  they  shall  bear  thee  up,  lest  at  any  time  thou 
dash  thy  foot  against  a  stone. 

7  Jesus  said  unto  him,  It  is  written  again,  Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the 
Lord  thy  God. 

8  Again,  the  devil  taketh  him  up  into  an  exceeding  high  mountain, 
and  showeth  him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  the  glory  of 
thera, 

9  And  saith  unto  him,  All  these  things  will  I  give  thee,  if  thou 
wilt  fall  down  and  worship  me. 

10  Then  saith  Jesus  unto  him,  Get  thee  hence,  Satan:  for  it  is 
written.  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  him  only  slialt 
thou  serve. 

II  Then  the  devil  leaveth  him,  and  behold,  angels  came  and 
ministered  unto  him.  —  Matt.  iv.  1-11. 

While  the  waters  of  baptism  were  poured  over  the  head 
of  Jesus,  he  heard  the  voice  of  His  Father ;  and  from  this 
Jordan  he  passed  at  once  into  the  wilderness,  and  there  he 
heard  the  voice  of  the  DevU,  tempting  Him. 


86  TEMPTATIONS. 

There  are  many  kinds  of  temptation ;  and  the  word  is 
used,  or  may  be  used,  in  many  senses.  Ordinarily,  it  means 
a  disposition  of  the  mind  or  an  influence  upon  it  to  do  a 
wrong  thing.     This  is  its  lower  form. 

Within  or  above  this,  are  those  states  in  which  one  is 
moved  not  so  much  to  do,  as  to  think  and  feel  and  be,  that 
which  he  should  not.  Something  of  this  meaning  every  one 
knows ;  if,  for  example,  a  man  says  that  when  he  sees  the 
success  and  prosperity  of  the  wicked,  he  is  tempted  to  re- 
nounce all  belief  in  the  government  of  God,  everybody 
understands  him.  But  there  is  still  a  higher  class  of  tempta- 
tions, of  which  much  less  is  known,  and  of  which  it  is  much 
more  difficult  to  speak.  They  are  what  is  generally  meant 
by  "temptations,"  in  the  writings  of  the  New  Church  al- 
though elsewhere  they  are,  if  known  to  exist,  not  now  gener- 
ally called  by  that  name. 

They  may  be  defined  as  internal  conflicts.  They  seem  to 
be,  and  they  actually  are,  conflicts  between  good  and  evil  in 
the  mind.  That  is,  conflicts  between  the  good  that  is  there 
and  the  evil  that  is  there ;  or  between  the  internal  and  the 
external ;  or  between  those  good  spirits  through  whom  all 
good  thought,  feeling  and  life  come  to  us,  and  those  evil  spirits 
through  whom  all  evil  life  comes  to  us.  They  are  actual 
combats  for  the  mastery ;  these  combats  take  place  within  the 
man's  own  soul  and  they  are  for  dominion  over  the  soul ;  and 
the  end  of  them  must  be  the  victory  of  one  or  other  of  the 
parties  combatant. 

They  may  or  they  may  not  take  the  form  of  a  prompting 
to  do  or  to  be  what  a  better  influence  forbids.  They  may  be 
felt  only  as  internal  distress.  They  may  bring  a  conscious- 
ness of  imrest  and  suffering  and  of  the  evil  from  which  all 
suffering  comes.  This  may  go  on,  even  to  the  extremest 
anxiety,  to  intolerable  woe,  to  despair ;  but  let  there  be  re- 
sistance still,  and  when  the  darkness  is  thickest  it  will  break, 
and  a  new  day  will  come ;  for  it  is  in  that  very  combat  that 


TEMPTATIONS.  87 

the  Lord  is  very  near.     The  man  himself  may  or  may  not  be 

able  to  define  precisely  the  evil  which  rose  up  and  claimed 
dominion  and  inflicted  suffering  and  threatened  death ;  or  the 
good  which  rebuked  and  overcame  this  evil.  But  of  the  con- 
flict, of  its  misery,  of  the  victory  of  the  right  and  the  conse- 
quent peace,  he  is  as  certain  as  he  is  of  darkness  when 
midnight  fills  the  sky,  or  of  light  when  the  morning  breaks. 

Scarcely  any  subject  is  more  dwelt  upon  in  the  works  of 
Swedenborg,  or  presented  with  greater  fulness  and  variety 
of  illustration,  or  declared  to  be  more  important,  than  that  of 
temptations.  He  shows  that  the  Bible  is  full  of  it;  the 
psalms  in  particular,  being  little  else  from  their  beginning  to 
their  end,  in  their  spiritual  sense,  than  narratives  and  state- 
ments of  temptation  —  combats  of  some  kind,  and  in  some 
part  or  stage  of  spiritual  progress.  They  are  called  the  psalms 
of  David :  they  describe  generally  the  sorrows  and  conflicts 
of  David ;  his  fears  and  distress  and  despair ;  the  hope  that 
sometimes  overcame  fear ;  and  sometimes  the  joy  of  victory 
and  peace.  David  was  a  representative  of  our  Lord,  and 
the  psalms  of  David,  in  their  spiritual  sense,  portray  the 
temptations,  and  combats  in  temptation,  and  victory  over  evil, 
of  our  Lord. 

Swedenborg  teUs  us,  that  temptations  of  some  kind,  or 
measure  are  absolutely  indispensable  to  all  progress  in  re- 
generation, or  in  other  words,  to  salvation.  If  we  would 
understand  the  reason  and  the  universality  of  this  law,  and 
the  manner  in  which  the  purposes  of  God  with  man  are 
worked  out  by  means  of  temptations,  we  must  remember 
why  man  lives.  For,  in  proportion  as  we  see  clearly  the  end 
of  all  divine  Providence,  we  may  better  understand  the 
means  used  by  Providence. 

l^ecause  God  is  Love,  it  is  certain  that  he  made  man  from 
love,  and  therefore  from  a  desire  to  make  a  world  of  happy 
beings.  Because  God  is  perfectly  happy,  there  can  be  no 
happiness  which  does  not  enter  into  and  belong  to  the  happi- 


88  WHAT  GOD   GIVES  MAN, 

ness  of  God.  He  created  man,  therefore,  for  the  purpose  of 
having  a  being  to  whom  he  could  impart  a  measure  of  his 
own  happiness. 

The  infinite  and  perfect  happiness  of  God  comes  from  the 
infinite  and  constant  exercise  of  his  love  through  his  wisdom, 
in  the  form  of  his  power.  He  desires  to  make  beings  who 
should  love,  and  be  wise,  and  should  be  happy  because  they 
could  have  power  to  exercise  and  indulge  their  love,  according 
to  their  wisdom. 

In  the  highest  heaven,  this  object  is  attained  in  a  degree 
wholly  inconceivable  by  us.  In  the  lower  heavens,  in  a  less 
degree.  On  earth  still  less ;  and  in  the  hells  less  than  on 
earth ;  but  wherever  men  are,  it  is  attained  in  some  degree. 
Even  in  the  animal  world  it  exists  also.  The  microscopic 
monad,  which  moves  busily  with  its  fellows  in  its  drop  of 
water,  has  some  affection  or  desire  or  purpose,  because  the 
infinite  love  of  God  fills  it  according  to  its  humble  form  and 
capacity ;  and  it  has  some  thought,  for  the  divine  wisdom  is 
also  there ;  and  it  is  happy,  because  through  that  modicum 
of  thought,  it  works  out  its  little  wish.  And  through  the 
whole  animal  world  the  same  thing  is  true  ;  but,  as  we  ascend 
the  scale,  in  a  much  greater  degree. 

Man  was  made  for  more  than  this.  He  was  created  that 
there  might  be  a  being  upon  whose  possibility  of  happiness 
infinite  love  might  expend  itself;  and  to  this  end,  five  things 
were  given  him  of  God  and  from  God,  and  from  the  very 
substance  of  God. 

The  first  of  these  is  Personality.  It  is  not  given  to  man  to 
suppose  himself  a  person  by  a  merciful  illusion ;  but  to  be, 
and  to  know  that  he  is  a  person  ;  and  to  know  also  if  he  fol- 
lows the  light  upwards,  that  his  personality  is  derived  from 
the  divine  personality,  and  is  most  real  and  indestructible. 

The  second  is  Love,  and  the  third  is  Wisdom.  God  does 
not  make  man  loving  or  wise  by  merely  willing  that  he  should 
be  so-     But  he  gives  man  a  will  and  an  understanding ;  and 


FREEDOM.  89 

the  will  is  a  spiritual  organ  or  vessel,  formed  and  adapted  to 
receive  into  itself  the  divine  love  and  convert  that  into  its 
own  love.  And  the  understanding  is  an  organ  or  vessel 
which  receives  the  divine  wisdom  and  converts  it  into  its  own 
thought.  And  everything  in  man  of  affection,  feeling,  motive 
or  desire,  is  the  love  of  God  received  in  him,  and  mbdified 
or  perverted  by  his  nature.  And  everything  of  thought, 
belief,  design  or  opinion  in  man,  is  God's  own  wisdom  in  him, 
and  made  to  be  his,  and  such  as  it  becomes  by  being  his. 

The  fourth  gift  of  God  is  Power  ;  also  from  Himself.  For 
His  power  is  the  operation  of  His  love  through  His  wis- 
dom, and  He  gives  to  man  the  faculty  of  making  His  love,  by 
means  of  His  thoughts,  active  and  productive  of  such  things 
as  are  its  proper  fruits. 

The  helpless  babe  seems  to  have  little  of  these;  but  all 
are  there  ;  and  the  highest  archangel  was  once  a  babe,  and 
then  had  in  him  the  love  and  wisdom  and  power  he  now  pos- 
sesses, but  not  then  known,  developed  and  active,  except  in 
the  slight  motions  of  infantile  happiness  of  that  germ  of 
being.     . 

And  the  fifth  element  of  the  divine  life  in  man  is  Free- 
dom. 

God  himself  is  Free ;  perfectly  Free.  He  always  acts  in 
conformity  with  the  laws  of  divine  order  ;  for  these  are  but 
the  result  and  expression  of  divine  wisdom  ;  and  the  divine 
love  acts  always  by  and  through  the  divine  wisdom,  and  the 
divine  love  and  wisdom  are  perfectly  conjoined.  If  He  were 
not  free,  He  could  have  no  power ;  or  if  He  had  power, 
would  have  but  a  qualified  happiness  in  the  exercise  of  His 
power.  His  freedom  is  the  foundation  of  His  own  happiness, 
and  He  grants  it  to  men,  that  it  may  be  the  foundation  of 
their  happiness.  His  freedom  is  an  essential  element  of  His 
own  life,  and  with  and  in  that  life  it  comes  to  man.  We 
may  perplex  ourselves  in  dark  inquiries  about  this  freedom ; 
but  we  know  that  we  possess  it.     He  gives  it  to  us,  because 


90  TEE  FOREKNOWLEDGE   OF  GOD. 

He  gives  everything  in  such  wise,  through  such  means,  and 
with  such  relations  of  balance  and  equilibrium,  that  He  can 
impart  to  us  all  and  always,  not  an  illusive  consciousness  of 
freedom,  but  the  fact ;  and,  if  we  do  not  suffer  ourselves  to 
be  bewildered,  the  certainty  of  the  fact. 

The  general  reason  of  this,  —  that  He  seeks  to  give  us  of 
his  own  happiness,  and  as  that  is  founded  upon  freedom.  He 
gives  us  freedom  as  the  foundation  of  our  own,  —  has  been 
already  stated.  More  particular  reasons  may  be  stated.  His 
desire  is  that  we  may  love  what  he  loves,  because  we  shall  then 
be  wise  with  his  wisdom,  and  live  of  his  life  but  as  ourselves, 
without  perverting  his  life  in  ourselves.  But  freedom  is  of  the 
essence  of  love.  Where  there  is  compulsion,  and  in  the  same 
degree,  there  is  an  absence  of  choice,  and  of  love.  "We  cannot 
choose  anything  unless  we  may  choose  not  that  thing ;  we 
cannot  love,  unless  we  may  also  hate.  A  freedom,  which  for 
any  reason  must  result  in  one  conclusion,  is  not  freedom. 

We  may  advert,  in  passing,  to  the  common  difficulty  of 
reconciling  the  foreknowledge  of  God  with  the  freedom  of 
man,  on  the  ground,  that  if  He  absolutely  foreknows  any 
result  without  the  possibility  of  error,  that  must  take  place, 
and  man  has  no  freedom.  The  answer  is  this.  First,  we 
feel  and  know  our  freedom.  Then,  if  we  go  into  metaphys- 
ics and  philosophy  and  find  this  difficulty,  let  us  go  farther, 
and  find  the  answer.  For  it  is  now  conceded  by  all  philoso- 
phy, that  time  is  only  a  law  or  necessity  of  our  thought  or  a 
manner  of  our  perception,  and  not  an  entity,  or  a  thing  which 
has  actual  existence  in  itself.  It  belongs  therefore  to  man, 
and  not  to  God.  Consequently  we  cannot  say  with  any 
accuracy,  that  God  foresees  ;  because  if  there  is  no  before  nor 
after  to  him,  or  if  before  the  infinite  eternity  of  his  wisdom, 
all  things  stand  as  one  present  thing,  there  is  no  more  conflict 
between  His  perception  and  our  freedom,  than  there  is  be- 
tween the  freedom  of  a  child  at  play  and  the  watchful  regard 
of  a  father  who  looks  on  and  sees  it  all,  but  is  careful  to  leave 


CHOOSE  YE  THIS  DAY.  91 

the  freedom  unimpaired.  Thus,  if  metaphysics  and  philoso- 
phy tell  us  that  our  freedom  cannot  be  reconciled  with  divine 
foreknowledge,  we  answer  that  God  has  no  foreknowledge  in 
any  sense  in  which  this  argument  uses  this  word.  But  can 
we  comprehend  how  with  God  the  past,  present,  and  future 
are  one?  Most  certainly  not.  We  have  not  and  cannot 
possibly  have  any  just  comprehension  of  an  infinite  mode  of 
thought,  and  for  this  reason  we  say  that  an  argument  founded 
upon  the  supposed  identity  between  infinite  perception  and 
finite  thought  must  be  irrational  and  must  lead  to  a  false 
conclusion.  Let  us  then  not  go  into  metaphysics  ;  or  if  we 
do  go,  not  go  only  so  far  as  to  find  an  error,  and  stop  there» 
when  the  next  step  might  show  that  it  is  an  error. 

We  say  then  that  man  has  freedom ;  and  we  mean  that  he 
is  always  at  liberty  to  choose  the  good  or  the  evil.  "  Choose  je 
this  day,  whom  ye  will  serve,"  is  the  command  of  every  day  ; 
and  it  is  a  command  which  none  can  disobey  or  evade. 
Every  man,  every  day  of  his  life,  chooses  to  whom  he  will 
give  the  service  of  that  day.  And  some  choose  good  and 
some  choose  evil,  and  always  have  so  chosen,  and  always  will. 

Therefore  human  nature  became  other  than  that  which  it 
was  intended  to  be  ;  it  became  an  obstructed  and  perverting 
recipient  of  the  divine  life.  But  the  love  of  God  did  not 
change ;  nor  did  his  wisdom.  It  continued  to  be  his  desire 
and  the  end  of  all  His  providence,  that  man  should  receive 
from  Him  life  and  happiness  ;  and  therefore  his  freedom  must 
be  preserved  if  possible,  and  yet  he  must  be  led  if  possible 
back  to  his  Father.  He  must  therefore  know  in  what  direc- 
tion he  is  going ;  he  must  know  the  evil  that  is  in  him,  that 
he  may  voluntarily  resist  and  overcome  that  evil.  And 
temptations  are  permitted,  because  by  their  means  man  is 
taught  what  his  nature  is.  It  is  they  which  bring  to  the 
man  a  knowledge  of  his  own  evils,  or  a  knowledge  that 
he  is  evil ;  they  bring  to  him  a  deep  sense  of  the  misery  these 
evils  cause ;  they  shake  and  weaken  his  love  for  the  world. 


92  CONFLICT  IN  TEMPTATION. 

and  his  false  and  foolish  estimate  of  the  pleasures  of  the  world, 
of  sense  and  of  self-love ;  they  silence  the  accursed  cry  of 
the  devils  who  throng  his  heart,  long  enough  for  him  to  hear 
a  better  voice,  and  to  know  that  there  is  a  better  voice.  And 
in  these  ways,  and  in  a  thousand  others  which  it  would  be 
impossible  to  exhibit,  they  may  weaken  the  evil  and  strengthen 
the  good  that  may  be  in  the  man.  By  and  in  temptations, 
good  influences  lead  and  bend  and  guide  man,  but  they  never 
coerce  him  to  be  good;  for  in  temptations  of  any  kind, 
the  evil  may  conquer  and  the  man  be,  if  not  slain,  yet 
wounded. 

While  this  process  is  going  on,  there  is  an  apparent  absence 
of  all  freedom ;  and  instead  of  it  a  sense  of  intolerable  op- 
pression. But  there  is  within  all  this,  even  then,  internal 
freedom.  Man  is  never  more  free,  than  when  he  forces  him- 
self to  do  or  be  what  is  right.  And  after  the  temptation  has 
passed  away,  —  if  it  has  ended  in  the  victory  of  the  good,  — 
there  is  a  new  sense  of  freedom,  and  of  happy  and  exultant 
freedom. 

These  temptations  are  always  such,  by  the  tender  over- 
ruling of  providence,  as  the  man,  at  the  moment,  needs,  and 
can  bear.  Slight,  external,  only  some  outside  fear  or  calam- 
ity, —  or  internal,  and  felt  like  a  wringing  convulsion  of  the 
soul.  Few,  says  Swedenborg,  in  these  days,  know  what 
temptations,  in  the  higher  sense  are.  But  because  none  are 
beyond  the  mercy  of  God,  none  escape  wholly  the  permitted 
discipline,  which  is  always  such  that  it  may  do  all  that  can 
then  be  done. 

Our  Lord  was  tempted  even  as  we  are  tempted ;  for  to  this 
his  human  nature  was  exposed  precisely  as  our  human  nature 
is  exposed.  But  because  he  could  bear  all  temptations  that 
could  occur,  all  came ;  all  were  borne ;  and  in  all  of  them, 
good  within  conquered,  until  the  evil  without  was  perfectly 
subdued  and  removed  ;  and  there  was  nothing  left  as  a  hin- 
drance  to   perfect   conjunction   into   absolute   unity  of  the 


DIVINE  MERCY  IN  HELL.  98 

human  and  the  divine  in  our  Lord;  this  conjunction  may- 
take  place  even  in  man,  in  a  similar  way,  and  by  similar 
means,  but  never  absolutely,  and  never  more  than  in  a 
finite,  qualified  and  imperfect  manner. 

Some  of  the  reasons  which  led  the  divine  Love  and  Wis- 
dom to  this  result,  we  may  see.  One  is  the  perfect,  eternal 
and  universal  example  thus  given  to  all  men,  forever. 
Another  is  that  divine-human  experience  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour,  which  brings  us  so  much  nearer  to  Him ;  which  gives 
to  Him  new  means  of  saving  us  and  approaching  us,  if  on 
no  other  ground  than  because  it  warms  our  faith,  our  love, 
our  hope,  in  all  extremities  and  all  sufferings,  to  know  that 
He  has  been  where  we  now  are,  has  suffered  as  we  now  suffer, 
and  has  heard  the  approaching  footsteps  of  despair,  even  as 
we  now  hear  them ;  and  that  He  from  His  own  divine-human 
experience,  now  looks  down  on  us  with  infinite  love. 

"We  may  indeed  find  reasons  for  this  mode  and  manifesta- 
tion of  the  divine  mercy,  even  in  that  infinite  and  inexhaust- 
ible love,  which,  if  we  go  down  into  hell,  we  shall  meet 
there  also. 

Evil  men  do  all  they  can  to  lessen  their  own  freedom; 
they  cannot  destroy  it  while  they  live  on  earth ;  but  when 
they  are  in  hell,  it  has  gone  and  can  return  no  more.  It  is 
no  longer  possible  for  them  to  have  the  true  and  high  happi- 
ness of  freely  loving  good  and  doing  good.  But  it  is  possible 
for  them  to  have  a  false  and  low  enjoyment,  which  they  value 
more,  because  it  is  all  they  can  value.  And  even  this  the 
Lord  cares  for  and  cultivates,  and  tenderly  guards  from  their 
own  assault  and  destruction.  They  may  think  what  is  false, 
and  love  what  is  evil,  and  as  far  as  is  permitted,  do  what  is  evil. 
But  they  are  mediums  through  which  an  adapted  life  flows 
to  evil  men,  and  through  which  the  life  that  flows  to  good 
men  is  adapted  to  the  evil  that  is  in  them.  Without  these 
evil  spirits,  there  could  be  no  such  adaptation.  Men  who  are 
predominantly  evil  would  perish,  would  be  wholly  deprived 


94  REDEMPTION. 

of  and  void  of  life,  were  not  a  life  which  they  could  receive 
supplied  to  them  through  these  mediums.  Good  men  could 
not  know,  and  could  not  by  resistance  put  away,  their  evils, 
if  these  were  not  animated  and  brought  into  consciousness  by 
a  life  from  those  evil  spirits.  Therefore  those  spirits  have 
their  own  activity  and  life  in  doing  that  which,  under  the 
divine  providence,  and  guarded,  limited  and  qualified,  by  that 
providence,  may  be  instrumental  in  preserving  others  from 
becoming  what  they  are.  But  all  bad  men  live  from  re- 
ceiving inflowing  life  from  bad  spirits,  and  the  more  numerous 
they  are  and  the  worse  they  are,  the  more  abundant  and  the 
stronger  is  this  life  of  bad  spirits ;  and  at  the  coming  of  our 
Lord,  the  accumulation  of  evil  in  the  world  had  so  filled  and 
invigorated  the  realms  of  woe,  and  so  weakened  mankind, 
that  evil  spirits  had  become  rampant  and  unchecked,  to  the 
great  peril  of  man ;  and  also  to  their  own  great  detriment 
and  suffering,  because  the  more  they  can  be  restrained  within 
their  own  order,  the  more  free  they  are  from  suffering  and 
the  more  enjoyment  they  have. 

Then  our  Lord  assumed  humanity,  not  to  redeem  the 
devils,  for  that  was  impossible,  because  they  would  not  be 
redeemed ;  but  to  redeem  man,  and  to  relieve  even  them  who 
were  making  man  and  themselves  too,  wretched.  For  this 
purpose.  He  did  not  by  a  word  of  power  destroy  them  or 
enchain  them.  He  could  not  permit  them  to  assail  with  their 
full  force,  any  man  that  lived,  for  it  would  have  crushed  him 
and  swept  him  away,  and  the  man  would  have  become  a 
devil  and  the  devils  made  worse.  But  he  assumed  a  human- 
ity which  they  could  approach,  and  assault ;  and  which  they, 
all  of  them,  from  the  unfastened  abysses  of  hell,  were  per- 
mitted to  approach  and  assail,  with  all  their  might.  Well 
might  we  say  with  Milton,  "  111  wast  thou  shrouded  then,  O 
patient  son  of  God,"  did  we  not  remember  that  they  were 
met  by  a  power  greater  than  their  own.  They  were  sub- 
dued, without  being  destroyed.     They  were  taught  all  they 


THE  FIRST  TEMPTATION.  95 

could  be  made  to  see  and  to  know.  They  were  reduced  to 
the  best  order  in  which  they  could  be  made  to  live,  and  there- 
fore to  the  least  suffering  and  the  most  enjoyment  compatible 
with  their  ineradicable  love  of  evil.  They  were  relieved  by 
being  delivered  from  themselves,  while  man  was  Redeemed, 
by  being  delivered  from  them. 

The  Temptations  of  our  Lord  were  continued  during  tho 
whole  of  his  life  on  earth.  But  little  is  said  of  them  in  the 
Gospels.  The  last,  in  Gethsemane  and  on  the  cross  is  dis- 
tinctly spoken  of;  and  all  others  are  symbolically  described 
and  as  it  were  contained  in  those  endured  in  the  forty  days 
in  the  wilderness.  These  stand  for  the  three  classes  which 
include  all  possible  temptations. 

He  was  an  hungered,  and  the  tempter  said,  "  If  thou  be  the 
Son  of  God  command  that  these  stones  be  made  bread.  But 
he  answered  and  said,  Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but 
by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God." 

He  was  an  hungered;  his  hunger  was  of  the  spirit;  he 
was  famished  for  lack  of  that  truth  which  nourishes  the  soul. 
Around  him  were  only  stones.  We  have  repeatedly  noticed 
the  fact,  that  all  things  must  correspond  and  refer  to  either 
good  or  truth,  or  what  is  of  the  will  and  what  is  of  the 
understanding,  because  these  two  make  up  the  soul,  and  the 
man.  Hence  a  kind  of  duality  or  twofold  relation  pervades 
the  universe.  One  instance  of  this  is  the  relation  of  all  that 
part  of  the  universe  which  is  not  organized  and  has  no  life, 
to  that  part  of  it  which  is  organized  and  has  life ;  for  love  is 
life,  and  truth  without  love  is  without  life.  The  general  ref- 
erence of  these  inorganic  matters  is  to  things  of  the  under- 
standing; to  truth  or  falsehood.  The  general  reference  of 
organic  and  living  things  is  to  things  of  the  will,  as  good  or 
evil  affections,  for  these  cause  a  good  or  bad  life.  Stones 
refer  emphatically  to  things  of  the  understanding ;  and  this 
correspondence,  which  is  constant  throughout  the  Bible,  is 


96  THE  FIRST  TEMPTATION. 

sometimes  quite  obvious.  In  this  sense  our  Lord  is  called 
the  corner-stone,  and  it  is  said  that  the  stone  which  the 
builders  rejected  has  become  the  head  of  the  corner ;  be- 
cause faith  in  Him  is  the  essential  of  all  true  doctrine 
and  worship.  So  the  perverted  and  desecrated  temple  was 
to  be  overthrown  and  not  one  stone  left  standing  upon 
another ;  and  this  takes  place  when  the  fabric  of  false  belief 
is  thrown  down  and  no  one  false  doctrine  left  cohering  with 
another.  And  when  the  Jews  sought  to  stone  Jesus  because 
he  made  himself  equal  with  the  father,  they  did  only  what 
we  do,  when  by  the  aid  of  falsehood  and  false  reasoning  we 
seek  to  put  that  truth  to  death  in  our  own  minds. 

When  one  hungers  for  truth,  his  first  and  natural  impulse 
is  to  seek  it  in  his  natural  reason  and  natural  knowledge,  and 
extract  nourishment  for  his  mind  out  of  the  natural  scien- 
tifics  which  he  can  lay  his  hand  upon  ;  the  devil  bids  him 
command  these  stones  to  become  bread,  and  satisfy  his  hun- 
ger ;  the  devil  bids  him  satisfy  his  longing  for  spiritual  truth, 
by  employing  his  merely  natural  faculties,  about  his  natural 
knowledge ;  the  devil  bids  him  trust  to  the  horses  and 
chariots  of  Egypt  and  Assyria,  and  forget  Zion ;  and  then  to 
believe  that  he  feeds  himself  with  food  that  he  has  made  him- 
self. But  if  his  desire  for  truth  is  genuine,  that  is  if  its 
source  be  a  love  of  goodness,  he  will  soon  learn  that  there  is 
but  one  source  of  living  truth,  and  that  it  is  only  "  every 
word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God,"  which  can 
be  bread  to  the  soul.  This  may  seem  a  simple  matter,  but  it 
is  a  terribly  hard  lesson.  Nor  is  it  learnt  until  the  abnega- 
tion of  self-confidence  is  complete.  In  these  days,  a  deadly 
worldliness  both  of  affection  and  thought,  and  an  invincible 
pride  of  self-intelligence  and  trust  in  self-capacity,  seem  to 
hold  universal  and  almost  undisputed  sway ;  and  therefore 
must  the  progress  of  truth  be  slow ;  slow,  difficult,  often  ar- 
rested and  sometimes  perilous ;  often  like  the  progress  of  an 
exploring  bark  through  the  ice-cumbered  waters  and  by  the 
barren  shores  of  an  arctic  region. 


TEE  SECOND   TEMPTATION.  97 

Still  this  lesson  may  be  learned,  and  many  and  very  various 
and  oft  repeated  are  the  methods  of  instruction  by  which 
providence  would  teach  it.  But  then  comes  another  lesson, 
equally  necessary.  "Then  the  devil  taketh  him  up  into 
the  holy  city  and  setteth  him  upon  a  pinnacle  of  the  temple. 
And  saith  unto  him,  If  thou  be  the  son  of  God,  cast  thyself 
down,  for  it  is  written.  He  shall  give  his  angels  charge  con- 
cerning thee ;  and  in  their  hands  they  shall  bear  thee  up,  lest 
at  any  time  thou  dash  thy  foot  against  a  stone."  If  the 
abnegation  of  self-confidence  be  the  first  step,  it  leads  natu- 
rally to  a  disposition  to  leave  the  whole  work  of  salvation  to 
Grod ;  and  to  a  faith  that  he  will  do  this  work ;  and  that  wf> 
may  incur  what  peril  we  will,  and  yet  be  safe.  Hence  that 
old  doctrine  of  the  perseverance  of  the  saints,  and  other 
falsities  of  antinomianism,  which  have  wrought  so  much  mis- 
chief. We  feel  as  if  we  had  conquered,  when  we  gave  up  the 
work  into  God's  own  hands ;  that  we  were  lifted  up  by  this 
self-denial  far  above  the  ordinary  level  of  men,  even  to  a  pin- 
nacle of  the  temple  ;  and  that  we  may  throw  ourselves  down, 
into  all  the  ways  of  life  about  us,  or,  if  the  falsity  has  full 
power  over  us,  even  into  outward  sin  and  pollution,  but  that 
He  in  whom  we  trust  wiU  still  hold  us  in  his  hand  and  keep 
us  in  safety. 

If  our  abnegation  of  self  has  been  indeed  from  good  and 
for  good,  we  shall  not  be  left  in  this  error ;  but  temptations 
and  conflicts  and  discipline  will  come  and  abide  with  us,  until 
we  learn  that  we  have  none  the  less  to  do,  because  God  does 
all ;  for  the  reason  that  he  does  all  through  us,  that  is,  through 
our  personality,  our  reason,  and  our  freedom,  as  his  living  in- 
struments. And  then  we  learn,  that  while  he  indeed  does 
all,  he  does  nothing  unless  we  co-operate  with  him  ;  and  that 
He  has  given  us  as  our  guide.  His  Law ;  given  it  to  all ;  to  the 
highest  and  to  the  lowest ;  to  aU,  always ;  and  that  so  far  as 
we  disregard  this  law  and  offend  against  it,  so  far  His  angels 
cannot  save  us.     Without  him,  we  should  sink  down  imtil  we 

7 


98  THE   THIRD   TEMPTATION. 

had  sounded  the  immeasurable  depths  of  evil,  for  our  natural 
proclivity  to  sin  is  complete.  But  we  are  never  without  Him 
if  we  choose  to  be  with  Him,  and  every  hour  of  every  day 
we  may  labor  conjointly  with  Him,  in  works  which  will 
always  lead  to  a  still  more  constant  and  abiding  conjunction 
with  Him. 

And  even  this  lesson  may  be  learned ;  and  then  are  we 
exposed  to  dangers  greater  than  before.  "Then  the  devil 
taketh  him  into  an  exceeding  high  mountain  and  showeth 
him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of  them : 
and  saith  unto  him.  All  these  things  will  I  give  thee  if  thou 
wilt  fall  down  and  worship  me."  We  seem  to  ourselves  now, 
not  merely  to  have  entered  into  the  holy  city,  and  to  have 
stood  there  on  a  pinnacle  of  the  temple,  but  to  have  climbed 
to  the  summit  of  an  exceeding  high  mountain,  higher  than 
all  the  earth,  far  above  all  that  belongs  to  the  merely  natural 
and  worldly  man,  all  whose  kingdoms  are  spread  out  below 
us.  And  then  if  it  is  true  that  we  do  stand  there,  it  is  also 
true  that  the  devil  is  with  us  there,  tempting  us  to  claim  the 
glory,  and  to  serve  and  worship  and  glorify  self.  None 
escape  from  this  peril  unscathed ;  none  but  the  Sinless  and 
Undefiled  ever  did.  All  else  do,  at  some  time,  thus  worship 
the  devils  within  them,  and  lay  their  own  goodness  on  the 
altar  of  self,  which  is  their  altar.  There  is  however  one 
truth  that  will  save  us ;  one,  that  may  lift  us  up  and  cleanse 
and  strengthen  us  against  self-worship,  and  help  us  to  give  to 
God  the  glory  that  is  his.  It  is  the  truth  which  tells  us, 
"  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  him  only  shalt 
thou  serve."  And  when  this  lesson  also  is  learnt,  the  devil 
cannot  but  depart,  and  leave  us  at  least  for  a  season. 

Throughout  this  narrative,  the  Devil  is  spoken  of  as  a  per- 
son. There  is  however  no  sovereign  of  hell,  embodying  all 
evil.  And  whenever  the  Devil  is  mentioned  in  the  Word  as 
one   person,   it   signifies   the   hells   collectively,  or   all   the 


IT  IS  WRITTEN.  99 

devils ;  unless  the  context  limits  the  sense,  as  when  a  devil 
who  possesses  a  man  is  said  to  be  driven  out  and  the  man 
cured. 

Where  the  Devil  and  Satan  are  spoken  of,  the  devil  stands 
for  the  representation  of  all  evil,  and  Satan  for  the  represen- 
tation of  all  that  is  false. 

The  temptations  of  our  Lord  are  thus  described  in  what 
purports  to  be  a  definite  and  detailed  narrative  of  actual  oc- 
currences. But  they  were  physically  impossible.  No  one 
can  stand  on  the  top  of  any  mountain  and  see  all  the  surface 
of  this  globe.  The  "Word  narrates  these  facts  as  occurring 
in  the  life  of  our  Lord  on  earth.  And  the  interpretation  of 
the  Word  which  we  are  now  taught,  assures  us  that  they  did 
occur,  most  truly  and  most  really,  in  their  deeper  meaning, 
and  in  His  inner  life  while  He  was  on  earth. 

Nor  let  it  be  forgotten,  that  to  every  temptation  the 
answer  was  given,  "It  is  written."  And  one  thing  which 
this  parable  —  so  I  consider  it  —  was  intended  to  teach, 
is,  that  in  every  temptation,  and  in  every  peril  of  the 
soul,  the  Word  of  God  will  give  us  an  answer  and  a  sure 
defence.  How  many,  now  in  heaven,  can  testify  that  it  has 
been  light,  consolation,  strength,  in  their  direst  needs. 

And  yet  how  many  as  they  read  it  in  this  life,  mourn  that  it 
gives  them  so  often  but  an  uncertain  answer ;  mourn  that  it 
does  not  speak  to  them  at  that  hour  and  in  that  want,  more 
fully  and  more  clearly.  And  therefore  it  is  that  infinite 
mercy  has  now  given  to  His  Word  a  new  utterance ;  one, 
that  as  we  learn  to  hear  and  understand  it,  may  make  us 
even  while  here,  rejoice  that  our  whole  lives  are  wrapt  in 
light  and  sunshine ;  in  the  sunshine  which  fills  the  heavens. 


100  FBEEDOM. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FKEEDOM. 

If  ye  continue  in  my  word,  ...  ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the 
tiuth  shall  make  you  free. 

Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  whosoever  committeth  sin  is  the 
servant  of  sin.  .  .  .  And  the  servant  abideth  not  in  the  house  forever ; 
the  son  abideth  ever.  If  the  son  therefore  shall  make  you  free,  ye 
shall  be  free  indeed.—  John  viii.  32-36. 

The  doctrines  and  principles  which  relate  to  Freedom 
hold  a  most  important  place  among  those  of  the  New  Church. 
All  men  seek  freedom,  and  all  value  it.  But  we  shall  be 
helped  to  seek  it  or  value  it  aright,  and  understand  its  origin, 
its  nature  or  its  purpose,  if  we  learn  these  from  the  new 
truths  now  revealed  concerning  the  relations  of  God  to  man. 
In  the  pages  immediately  preceding,  in  treating  of  those 
elements  of  divine  life  which  come  to  man,  I  have  said  some- 
what of  divine  freedom,  and  of  human  freedom  as  derived 
from  that.  Let  me  now  interrupt  what  might  seem  to  be  a 
more  regular  succession  of  topics,  by  considering  more 
specifically,  the  subject  of  Freedom. 

Because  the  outer  world  is  the  effect,  the  instrument  and 
the  manifestation  of  the  inner  world,  upon  almost  all  points 
it  may  instruct  u&  as  to  the  inner  world ;  and  upon  few  more 
than  in  regard  to  the  Laws  of  Freedom. 

Last  and  lowest  of  all  things  in  the  outer  world  is  the 
mineral  world ;  and  in  this  there  is  no  freedom,  and  little  to 
suggest  the  thought  of  freedom.  But  even  in  the  inorganic 
world,  as  we  rise  from  rocks  and  metals  to  the  water  and  the 


DEGREES   OF  FREEDOM.  101 

air,  we  find  no  more  of  freedom  in  fact,  but  we  find  such 
semblance  and  suggestion  of  it  as  are  implied  in  the  common 
phrase,  "  Free  as  the  wind  and  wave." 

As  we  go  still  higher  and  reach  the  vegetable  world,  we 
find  that  which  we  call  "  life,"  and  ia  the  apparent  power  of 
selection  and  adaption  to  circumstances  which  plants  possess, 
we  find  a  stUl  stronger  semblance  of  freedom,  although  no 
power  of  voluntary  self-determination. 

But  that  we  find,  when  we  take  the  next  ascending  step, 
and  come  to  animal  life.  Some  of  the  lowest  animals  have, 
in  some  stages  of  their  being,  no  power  whatever  of  loco- 
motion. But  all,  in  the  choice  or  in  the  reception  of  their 
food,  and  in  the  propagation  of  their  kind,  have  some  actual 
power  of  voluntary  self-determination.  It  may  be  very 
feeble,  and  very  narrowly  limited.  It  may  be  strictly  con- 
fined to  those  functions  necessary  to  the  continuance  of 
life  and  the  production  of  offspring.  But  there  it  is ;  so 
certainly,  that  the  presence  or  absence  of  voluntary  action  is 
now  regarded  by  eminent  scientists  as  the  best  test  to  deter- 
mine whether  an  organism  be  vegetable  or  animal ;  a  question, 
which  in  regard  to  some  of  the  protozoa,  or  first  and  simplest 
forms  of  organic  life,  is  very  difficult. 

Having  reached  the  animal  kingdom,  if  we  again  ascend 
through  its  ranks,  we  find  an  ever  increasing  amount  of  this 
power  of  voluntary  action ;  from  the  shellfish,  through  the 
reptiles,  up  to  the  eagle,  the  horse,  the  deer,  the  lion.  And 
at  each  step  we  shall  find  that  we  associate  the  idea  of  vigor 
and  completeness  and  enjoyment  of  life,  with  that  of  the 
greatest  freedom,  or  the  largest  extent  of  the  power  of  volun- 
tary action  and  self-determination. 

The  next  step  leads  us  to  man.  He  has  less  of  this 
physical  freedom  than  some  of  the  animals ;  they  can  do 
many  things  which  he  cannot  do ;  they  can  do  many  things 
with  the  body  alone,  which  he  cannot  so  do ;  but  he  has,  and 
they  have  not,  the  faculty  of  making  and  using  instruments ; 


102  HUMAN  FREEDOM. 

and  by  the  exercise  of  this  faculty,  he  can  enlarge  his  power 
of  action  and  production,  even  as  to  external  things ;  and  not 
only  far  beyond  them  all  together,  but  with  a  perpetual  and 
never  ceasing  progress. 

Or  this  gradation  of  freedom  may  be  stated  thus.  All  the 
elements  of  the  material  world  seek  crystallization ;  some- 
times with  great  force,  as  is  shown  by  the  rending  power  of 
freezing  water,  or  of  water  crystallizing  into  ice.  But  all 
these  processes  are  subject  to  rigorous  and  exact  rules  which 
are  reduced  by  scientific  men  into  a  science.  Here  is  not 
even  the  semblance  of  freedom.  But  plants  have  this 
semblance.  They  have  power  to  grow,  to  pass  through 
different  stages  of  being,  and  to  accommodate  themselves  in 
some  degree  to  circumstances.  But  they  have  no  power  of 
changing  their  place.  Animals  (all  but  a  few  of  the  lowest) 
have,  in  addition  to  vegetable  life,  the  power  of  changing 
place  at  will ;  and  seeking  food  and  the  means  of  enjoyment. 
But  animals  have  not  a  particle  of  power  of  changing  their 
own  nature,  or  character  or  qualities.  Men  have  vegetable 
and  animal  life  and  faculty ;  and  in  addition  thereto,  power 
to  change  their  character  and  qualities.  Ajid  as  animals 
exert  their  power  of  changing  place,  in  search  of  food  or  of 
the  means  of  enjoyment,  so  men,  in  proportion  as  they  are 
instructed  and  wise  and  more  truly  human,  exert  their  power 
of  changing  their  character  and  qualities,  in  search  of  food 
for  the  life  within,  and  of  true,  abiding  haj^piness. 

If  we  pause  here,  to  learn  the  first  lesson  we  may  derive 
from  these  facts,  it  is  that  our  Creator  has  brought  into  ex- 
istence creatures  of  aU  kinds,  has  given  to  them  different 
degrees  of  freedom,  and,  to  all  appearance,  different  degrees 
of  enjoyment  responsive  to  their  different  degrees  of  freedom. 
But  we  may  learn  more  than  this.  K  the  higher  animals 
have,  on  the  whole,  more  freedom,  or  a  larger  power  and 
wider  scope  of  voluntary  activity,  and  therewith  a  larger 
capacity  for  enjoyment,  we  may  well  believe  that  He  gives  to 


HUMAN  FREEDOM.  103 

them  this  more  of  freedom  that  they  may  have  this  more  of 
happiness.  The  oyster  can  sustain  his  life  and  propagate  his 
kind  as  well  as  the  bird  or  the  mammal ;  and  if  only  this 
were  wanted,  it  was  not  necessary  that  animals  should  exist 
with  lai'ger  powers  than  the  oyster  possesses.  But  more  was 
needed.  He  who  created  all  loves  all,  and  desires  to  impart 
the  largest  happiness ;  and  as  he  builds  up  His  creation, 
places  on  its  higher  steps,  those  who  have  more  freedom  and 
more  happiness,  and  who  have  more  freedom  that  they  may 
have  more  happiness,  and  more  happiness  because  they  have 
more  freedom. 

And  so  again  we  come  to  man.  For  him,  and  him  alone, 
there  is  immortality,  and  indefinite  unceasing  growth  and 
development.  And  through  this  eternal  being  and  eternal 
growth,  the  same  law  prevails ;  the  same  law,  for  it  is  inevit- 
able and  universal.  It  is  the  eternal  and  infinite  effort  of 
Providence  to  enlarge  man's  freedom,  that  his  happiness 
may  be  enlarged ;  and  as  his  freedom  grows,  so  grows  his 
happiness. 

But  human  freedom  is  not  only  larger  in  measure  than 
animal  freedom,  but  higher  in  degree  and  in  kind ;  for  to 
man,  an  absolutely  new  and  other  kind  of  freedom  is 
given. 

What  then  is  human  freedom  ?  It  is  the  largest  measure 
of  divine  freedom  which  can  be  given  to  man.  It  is  the 
largest  measure  of  the  freedom  of  the  Creator  which  can  be 
given  to  a  creature.  For  the  universal  law  in  respect  to  free- 
dom applies  to  God  himself  and  comes  from  God :  it  is,  that 
in  proportion  to  the  freedom  is  the  happiness ;  and  in  Him 
both  are  infinite,  and  both  are  one. 

All  the  elements  of  life  and  being  come  from  God,  because 
He  alone  is,  of  Himself;  all  these  elements  are  elements  of 
His  Life,  imparted  to  His  creatures  to  be  their  life.  We  have 
already  said,  that  this  is  true  of  freedom,  and  not  more  nor 
less  true  of  freedom  than  of  all  the  other  elements  of  divine 


104  ETERNAL    OROWTH  OF  FREEDOM. 

life.  But  it  is  of  the  very  essence  of  freedom,  that  what  ia 
thus  freely  given  should  be  freely  received ;  should  be  re- 
ceived by  voluntary  acceptance,  choice,  and  self-determination. 
In  this  truth  we  have  a  key  which  solves  many  of  the  most 
difficult  problems  of  human  nature  and  destiny.  So  far  as 
we  can  understand  and  apply  this  truth,  we  shall  understand 
why  and  how  it  is,  that  we  begin  our  being  with  an  apparent 
absence  of  all  freedom,  and  how  freedom  comes,  and  grows 
with  our  growth,  and  we  are  capable  of  possessing  hereafter 
a  degree  of  freedom  utterly  beyond  our  capacity  of  conception 
in  this  life ;  and  in  proportion  as  we  grow  in  freedom,  we 
may  grow  in  happiness.  And  finally  we  may  comprehend 
the  crowning  truth,  that  it  is  of  the  very  essence  of  human 
freedom,  that  man  is  free  to  co-operate  with  God  in  the 
growth  of  his  own  freedom  and  happiness. 

Infinite  and  eternal  growth  of  Freedom !  What  can  be 
meant  by  so  large  a  phrase  ?  I  will  answer  this  question  as 
well  as  I  can.  I  mean  by  it  that  God  creates  man  upon  all 
the  innumerable  earths  in  the  universe,  that  He  may  have 
those  upon  whom  His  infinite  love  may  indulge  itself  in 
bestowing  happiness.  And  as  a  created  being  must  be  a 
finite  being,  and  no  finite  being  can  receive  infinite  life  and 
infinite  happiness,  God  has  so  created  man  that  he  may 
eternally  grow  in  his  capacity  of  receiving  life  and  happiness 
and  all  the  elements  of  life  and  happiness  from  their  infinite 
source.  It  is  only  upon  the  first  steps  of  this  unending  prog- 
ress that  we  can  employ  our  thoughts,  for  them  only  can  we 
in  any  measure  hope  to  comprehend.  But  they  may  suffice 
to  show  us  the  laws  of  this  progress,  and  its  direction. 

What  freedom,  or  free  agency,  is,  and  whether  there  be 
any  such  thing,  has  been  much  discussed,  from  the  first 
beginnings  of  metaphysical  inquiries.  And  a  large  school 
of  philosophers  have  utterly  denied  its  existence.  It  was 
always  easy  for  that  logic  to  come  to  this  conclusion,  which 
founded  itself  upon  the  assumption,  that  nothing  was  true 


NATURAL  LOGIC.  105 

which  it  could  not  prove,  and  that  nothing  existed  which  it 
could  not  comprehend.  That  logic  is  natural  logic ;  the  logic 
of  the  natural  mind.  For  aU  logic  must  proceed  from  some 
assumptions,  because  it  must  use  as  the  means  of  proof  some 
things  which  it  assumes  prior  to  proof.  The  human  mind 
can  assume  as  fundamental  truths,  only  those  which  it  sees 
and  knows  to  be  truths,  by  intuition.  From  them  it  may 
reason.  This  is  not  more  true  of  geometry  than  of  all  other 
objects  of  thought.  The  logic  of  the  natural  mind  can 
assume  only  what  that  mind  sees;  that  is,  only  natural 
things,  whether  they  be  entities,  or  laws  or  relations.  In 
other  places  the  distinction  between  the  natural  and  the 
supernatural  is  more  fully  considered.  Here  it  can  only  be 
said  that  it  is  more  than  easy  for  a  merely  natural  logic  to 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  freedom ; 
that  all  things  are  effects  from  causes,  and  these  effects  from 
prior  causes  which  could  not  but  produce  these  effects,  and 
however  hx  you  may  carry  the  series  backwards,  all  these 
causes  and  all  these  effects  are  linked  together  as  one  chain 
of  necessity.  It  is  more  than  easy  for  this  natural  logic  to 
come  to  this  conclusion,  for  it  is  the  inevitable  consequence 
of  its  primal  presumptions ;  and  its  argumentation  is  un- 
answerable on  its  own  ground. 

This  conclusion  is  inevitable,  so  long  as  this  series  of 
causes  and  effects  is  carried  only  backwards,  and  not  up- 
wards. And  this  logic,  and  the  minds  which  love  and  use 
this  logic,  cannot  carry  the  series  upwards,  because  this 
would  bring  them  surely  and  speedily  into  the  presence  of 
the  supernatural;  and  they  were,  and  are,  wholly  incapable, 
because  unwilling,  to  recognize  or  use  anything  or  any  truth 
above  nature.  To  them  any  words  must  seem  utterly  sense- 
less, which  indicate  that  this  series  of  causes  and  effects 
began  from  God,  as  the  cause  of  all  causation ;  fi-om  God 
who  imparted  to  all  the  parts  of  the  series  which  refer  to 
the  human  mind  and  character,  the  element  of  freedom. 


106  WHAT  IS  FREEDOM'} 

But  while  such  logicians  in  all  ages  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  freedom,  they  have  never 
succeeded  in  persuading  even  themselves,  that  their  con- 
clusion was  altogether  true.  They  have  succeeded  in  darken- 
ing their  own  minds  and  the  minds  of  others  to  a  considerable 
extent.  They  have  produced  a  conviction  of  greater  or  less 
strength,  either  that  there  is  no  God,  and  then  that  all  things 
couie  to  pass  under  an  inexorable  law  of  causation  and  suc- 
cession, or  else  that  there  is  a  God,  where  omnipotence  binds 
all  things  together  by  the  fetters  of  fatality. 

It  is  however  probable  that  no  human  mind  was  ever  yet 
wholly  divested  of  the  sense  and  certainty  of  free  agency. 
For  every  man  knows  at  every  hour  that  he  acts  in  such  or 
such  a  way,  because  he  chooses  so  to  act ;  and  it  is  of  no 
effect  to  tell  him  that  he  chooses  under  a  necessity  which 
governs  his  choice.  He  feels  that  this  is  not  true.  If  there 
is  no  freedom,  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  duty,  or  respon- 
sibility, or  right  or  wrong,  or  good  or  evil.  And  however 
obscure  a  man's  thoughts  may  be  about  these  things,  it  is 
probable  that  no  mind  capable  of  any  thought  was  ever 
wholly  denuded  of  these  ideas. 

What  is  freedom?  It  is  no  more  capable  of  definition, 
than  thought,  love,  or  life.  These  ideas  are  those  of  the 
intuitive  reason,  and  this  reason  hands  them  over  to  the 
discursive  reason  (if  I  may  make  use  of  these  old  but  good 
terms)  ;  and  if  the  discursive  reason  accepts  them  honestly 
and  intelligently  it  may  make  infinite  use  of  them.  But 
they  cannot  be  defined  with  certainty,  for  the  j^lain  reason 
that  there  are  no  ideas  more  definite  and  certain  by  means 
of  which  these  may  be  made  definite  and  certain. 

Take,  for  example,  the  word  Life.  Says  Stahl,  life  is 
"  the  condition  by  which  a  body  resists  a  natural  tendency  to 
putrefaction ; "  but  this  is  only  a  description  of  one  of  its 
functions.  And  Kant  says,  that  life  is  "  an  internal  faculty 
producing  change,  motion  and  action."     But  this  is  only  a 


FREEDOM  LIMITED  IN  MAN.  107 

description  of  other  functions ;  and  so  is  Erhard's  definition, 
that  life  "  is  that  which  produces  motions  serviceable  to  the 
body  moved;"  and  Schmidt's,  that  life  "is  the  activity  of 
matter  according  to  the  laws  of  organization."  All  these 
definitions  are  easily  found  in  common  books.  And  then 
there  is  the  definition  of  Bichat,  most  generally  accepted  in 
recent  times,  —  that  life  "  is  the  sum  of  the  functions  by 
which  death  is  resisted."  But  what  does  this  tell  us  except- 
ing that  where  there  is  life  there  is  not  death,  and  where 
there  is  death  there  is  not  life  ?  And  when  Whewell  modi 
fies,  and  perhaps  improves  Bichat's  definition,  saying  that  life 
"  is  the  system  of  vital  functions,"  what  is  this  except  to  say 
in  the  shape  of  a  formula,  that  "  Life  is  Life  "  ? 

Nor  can  there  be  a  better  definition,  and  every  departure 
from  it  makes  a  worse  one.  Or,  in  other  words,  there  can 
be  no  helpful  definition  of  Life,  and  every  attempt  to  make 
one,  hmits  unduly  and  darkens  and  confuses  the  idea.  Life 
may  be  described,  but  not  defined.  It  is  just  so  with  Freedom. 
And  yet  that  Life  and  Freedom  are  realities  is  known,  is 
felt,  is  believed  and  acted  upon,  and  ought  to  be  so,  because 
it  is  true  and  certain.  Instead  of  Freedom  we  may  say 
Liberty,  Free  will.  Free  agency,  or  Self-determination.  These 
terms  are  not  identical  in  the  thoughts  which  they  express  or 
convey,  and  one  of  them  may  be  more  appropriate  in  one 
connection,  and  another  in  another ;  but  neither  of  them  is 
a  definition  of  either  of  the  others. 

It  is  not  true  that  freedom  has  no  existence.  It  is  however 
true,  that  freedom,  like  all  the  elements  of  divine  life  which 
being  imparted  to  man  make  him  to  be  man,  as  Love,  Wisdom, 
Power,  and  Life  itself,  are  in  God  infinite  and  absolute,  and 
are  in  all  his  creatures,  finited,  limited,  and  imperfect ;  and  aU 
are  in  man  capable  of  indefinite  advance  towards  the  perfec- 
tion which  belongs  to  them  only,  in  their  source  and  origin. 

Man  begins  with  almost  the  least  possible  amount  of  free- 
dom.    He  has  only  a  little  physical  freedom ;  only  that  of 


108  SPIRITUAL  FBEEDOM. 

moving  his  limbs  and  members  to  some  extent ;  and  he  has 
less  of  this  than  most  animals  have  at  birth.  From  this  low- 
est point  he  ascends.  His  physical  freedom  is  developed ; 
his  mental  freedom  is  born  and  grows ;  and  at  adult  age,  —  a 
period  fixed  by  law  in  all  civilized  countries,  —  he  is  called 
"  free."  He  takes  his  place  among  men,  with  his  freedom  ac- 
knowledged. 

But  the  freedom  thus  seen  and  known  and  acknowledged 
is  only  external  freedom.  There  is  a  far  higher,  and  a  far 
better  freedom  for  him.  This  is  spiritual  freedom.  In  one 
sense,  and  considering  the  subject  under  one  aspect,  he  can- 
not but  have  this  freedom,  and  he  cannot  but  exercise  this 
freedom,  and  is  not  free  to  reject  this  freedom.  For  it  is  al- 
ways true,  that  every  man  is,  of  necessity,  —  that  he  must  be, 
—  what  he  chooses  to  be.  His  destiny  is  in  his  own  hands, 
and  he  cannot  cast  the  burthen  of  deciding  it  upon  another. 
Of  course  there  are  cases  of  insanity,  or  imbecility,  and 
there  seem  to  be  cases  when  external  circumstances  press 
upon  character  with  invincible  force.  But  I  am  referring  to 
the  normal  and  not  the  exceptional  condition  of  man.  And 
as  to  the  last  mentioned  exception,  while  I  am  unwilling 
to  deny  that  external  circumstances  may,  in  some  instances, 
hold  the  man,  even  through  life,  in  the  same  want  of  spiritual 
freedom  and  responsibility  which  belongs  to  childhood,  I  be- 
lieve that  in  most  if  not  in  all  of  the  cases  which  seem  to  be 
such,  the  influence  of  these  circumstances,  however  adverse  to 
all  good  and  however  irresistible  they  may  appear  to  be,  is 
in  some  way  controlled  or  guided  by  Divine  Providence  in 
such  wise  as  to  enable  the  man  to  construct  the  foundations 
of  his  own  character,  and  therefore  of  his  own  destiny.  The 
insane  or  imbecile  who  live  to  adult  life  or  even  old  age 
never  live  to  maturity,  and  when  they  die  are  in  the  other 
world  in  somewhat  the  same  condition  as  those  who  die  in- 
fants. 

In  this  sense  therefore,  freedom  belongs  to  humanity  as 


LIMITATION  OF  LIFE.  109 

one  of  its  essentials ;  as  one  of  those  elements  without  which 
it  would  not  be  human ;  as  something  which  belongs  to  it  as 
soon  as  it  exists  and  can  never  be  taken  from  it.  But  here 
we  must  apply  to  freedom  the  same  law  which  we  apply  to 
all  other  of  the  elements  of  the  divine  life,  which  being  im- 
parted to  man,  make  him  to  be  a  living  man;  to  love,  to 
wisdom,  to  power,  and  to  Life  itself. 

Each  one  of  these  elements  of  life,  infinite  in  its  source,  is 
given  to  man,  to  be  received  by  him  as  life,  and  in  his  life. 
It  is,  first,  so  received  by  man  in  that  inmost  of  which  we 
have  no  consciousness.  And  whether  it  shall  come  forth  into 
consciousness  and  act  depends  altogether  upon  the  question, 
whether  the  externals  of  the  man  permit  this  influent  life  to 
flow  forth.  And  the  question,  in  what  degree,  and  in  what 
way  and  in  what  measure  of  its  original  purity  or  with  what 
mode  and  measure  of  perversion,  this  life  in  the  inmost  comes 
forth  into  conscious  knowledge  and  act,  depends  not  only 
upon  the  degree,  and  the  way  in  which'  these  externals  per- 
mit this  life  to  flow  forth,  and  to  become  conscious,  apparent, 
external  life,  but  upon  the  limitations,  the  form,  it  may  be 
the  perversion,  they  give  to  it.  This  universal  law  is  appli- 
cable with  its  full  force  and  all  its  effects,  to  freedom. 

One  of  the  effects  is  this,  neither  love,  nor  wisdom,  nor 
power,  nor  life,  ever  is  or  ever  can  be  unlimited  and  unquali 
fied,  or  felt  to  be  so  by  any  man,  in  this  world  or  the  other , 
nor  is  freedom.  When  we  pause  to  reflect,  we  are  always 
conscious  of  the  limitation  and  imperfection  of  all  these  things. 
And  even  when  we  are  most  joyful  and  exultant  in  the  con- 
scious possession  or  exercise  of  either  of  them,  a  moment's 
thought  will  tell  us,  that  it  might  be  more. 

And  with  all  men,  spiritual  freedom  is  as  small  and  feeble 
at  its  birth,  as  is  the  physical  freedom  of  the  child  at  its  birth, 
or  indeed  smaller,  if  it  then  exist.  It  is  small  and  feeble  at 
its  beginning,  and  grows  and  strengthens  by  exercise.  It  is 
small  at  first,  for  spiritual  freedom  is  the  power  of  resisting 


110  CONSCIENCE. 

evil  and  choosing  good  by  self-determination ;  and  the  power 
of  resisting  larger  evils  can  only  be  acquired  by  resisting 
lesser  evils.  By  this  law  Divine  Providence  is  governed  in 
adjusting  the  series  of  questions  and  of  conflicts  through 
which  we  must  pass,  through  which  we  may  pass  with  ever 
ascending  steps,  through  which  we  may  approach  nearest  to 
Him,  and  possess  and  rejoice  in  that  which  is  nearest  to  per- 
fect freedom. 

God  leads  man  to  himself,  by  his  conscience.  And  by  con- 
science is  meant  not  merely  the  knowledge  that  there  is  a 
difference  between  right  and  wrong,  and  the  power  of  dis- 
criminating between  right  and  wrong,  but  a  preference  of 
right  over  wrong,  and  something  of  happiness  in  choosing, 
doing  and  being  right,  and  something  of  pain  in  choosing, 
doing  or  being  wrong.  And  this  conscience  may  be  awaked 
—  to  use  a  better  phrase,  it  may  be  given  of  God  to  the  child 
and  received  by  the  child, — at  an  early  age.  Through  all  the 
immaturity  of  childhood  it  partakes  of  that  immaturity.  But 
in  every  instance  however  slight,  in  which  a  child  reflects  or 
perceives  that  this  conduct  is  right,  and  that  conduct  wrong, 
and  prefers  the  right,  in  that  instance  conscience  speaks  and 
freedom  acts,  and  the  conscience  becomes  clearer  to  see  more 
promptly  and  more  certainly  the  difference  between  right  and 
wrong,  and  the  freedom  stronger,  to  choose  the  right. 

"Within  all  this,  as  the  life  of  it,  is  the  Divine  Providence  ; 
giving  freedom,  and  giving  the  desire  to  do  right;  and  al- 
ways providing  from  first  to  last,  in  all  things  great  or  small, 
and  by  influences  of  every  kind,  that  the  child  and  the  man 
shall  be  led  to  possess  his  freedom,  to  exert  his  freedom,  and  to 
enlarge  his  freedom.  Led,  but  not  forced ;  for  it  is  of  the 
very  essence  of  freedom  that  it  cannot  be  and  shall  not  be 
forced. 

And  yet  there  is  through  the  life  of  all  men  a  great  deal  of 
force  or  compulsion  exercised  upon  them.  No  one  has  in  all 
things  just  what  he  would  have.    He  is  driven  to  do  what  he 


MAN  IS  LED,   NOT  FORCED.  Ill 

would  not,  by  want,  by  terror  and  by  distress.  In  all  this 
there  is  little  freedom.  But  it  is  all  permitted,  to  break  down 
those  lusts  and  proclivities  and  habits  which  would  make  a 
rightful  use  of  freedom  impossible.  And  when  they  are  so 
subdued,  that  the  right  use  of  some  true  freedom  is  possible, 
then  that  measure  of  freedom  is  given.  In  circumstances  of 
sickness,  suffering  and  fear,  most  men  repent  and  resolve  to  do 
right,  and  if  they  then  can  choose,  do  choose  the  right.  But 
this  is  not  done  in  freedom,  and  it  is  of  little  use,  except  to 
prepare  for  choice  and  action  after  the  compelling  circumstan- 
ces pass  away  and  freedom  comes.  Then,  if  the  choice  be  of 
evil,  it  is  proof  that  the  former  choice  was  not  a  free  one,  and 
seven  evil  spirits  worse  than  the  former  take  the  place  that  was 
swept  and  garnished  for  them  by  that  enforced  repentance. 
But  if  the  choice  be  of  good,  there  will  be  a  rightful  use 
of  the  freedom  that  was  prepared  for  by  the  states  which 
have  passed  away ;  and  this  use  of  freedom  will  confirm  and 
enlarge  the  freedom. 

But  I  repeat,  for  the  truth  is  a  most  important  one,  —  man 
is  always  led,  but  never  forced,  to  have  and  to  exercise  aright 
his  freedom,  because  it  is  of  the  very  essence  of  freedom  that 
it  should  not  be  forced ;  and  therefore  led  to  do  this,  no  far- 
ther than  he  is  willing  or  can  be  made  willing  to  do  this. 

Even  as  I  write  these  words  for  the  second  time,  I  feel 
how  difficult  it  is  to  apprehend  aright  the  great  truth  they 
are  intended  to  express. 

There  are  those  who  find  it  impossible  to  consider  God  as 
free.  This  is  so  not  only  with  those  who  think  there  is  no 
other  God  than  the  Sum  of  the  laws  and  forces  which  con- 
stitute the  universe,  and  of  those  who  holding  that  there 
may  be  a  personal  God,  believe  that  he  must  be  bound  by 
the  inexorable  law  which  makes  every  effect  follow  of  neces- 
sity from  its  cause,  —  but  of  those  also  who  hold  that  God 
is  bound  only  by  the  laws  of  His  own  divine  order.  This, 
they  say  He  cannot  transcend ;  and  because  He  cannot,  there 


112       FREEDOM  RESPECTS   ORDER. 

is,  —  although  He  is  a  God  of  Love,  —  vast  suffering  on 
earth,  and  a  hell. 

But  this  error  passes  away,  when  we  remember  that  God 
is  Lwe  and  also  Wisdom,  both  perfect,  and  both  One.  In 
the  degree  in  which  we  understand  this,  we  understand,  that 
while  infinite  love  must  ever  regard  and  be  guided  by  in- 
finite wisdom,  it  is  the  one  work  of  infinite  wisdom  to  be 
not  the  hindrance,  but  the  instrument  of  infinite  love.  From 
the  perfect  wisdom  of  God  comes  His  perfect  order.  And 
the  reason  why  He  cannot  transcend  this  order,  is  that  this 
order  is  the  fruit  not  of  wisdom  only,  but  of  love  and  wis- 
dom as  one,  and  therefore  if  He  could  transcend  this  order,  it 
would  be  because  His  love  was  imperfect.  Infinite  love  can- 
not transcend  its  own  order,  because  it  cannot  violate  itself; 
cannot  become  anything  but  love  and  perfect  love. 

Freedom  respects  order,  and  order  respects  freedom ;  and 
all  true  order  is  for  the  sake  of  true  freedom,  and  enlarges 
and  protects  it.  And  in  their  infinite  source,  freedom  and 
order  are  one.  Of  this  unity  in  its  absolute  perfection,  we 
can  form  no  adequate  idea.  But  this  truth  comes  down  to 
earth,  and  here  it  becomes,  here  it  may  be  seen,  as  an  uni- 
versal law.  And  that  law  is,  that  the  order  which  does  not 
keep  freedom  before  it  as  its  purpose  and  its  end,  is  tainted 
with  infernal  disorder,  and  is  on  its  way  to  despotism.  And 
that  freedom  which  does  not  respect  and  value  and  love 
order  as  its  best  protection,  is  tainted  with  an  infernal  ten- 
dency to  license,  and  is  on  its  way  through  chaotic  anarchy 
to  the  loss  of  all  freedom. 

The  mystery  and  the  difficulty  lie  in  comprehending  how 
infinite  love  can  be  manifested  in  the  life  and  destiny  of  man, 
and  reconciled  with  all  the  suffering  that  is  there.  The  key 
to  this  mystery  is  in  the  truths,  that  because  the  divine  love 
is  infinite,  it  cannot  seek  anything  less  than  the  highest  pos- 
sible good ;  that  the  highest  good  is  the  choice  and  love  of 
good  by  voluntary  self-determination ;  that  this  highest  good 


LED  BY  LOVE.  113 

cannot  be  attained  except  through  the  fi-eedom  of  the  high- 
est creatures  whom  He  causes  to  be ;  and  that  this  freedom 
necessarily  implies  freedom  for  evil  or  for  good;  and  that 
from  the  wrongful  exercise  of  this  freedom  suffering  arises. 

To  many  these  words  will  seem  to  be  words  of  no  mean- 
ing, or,  at  best,  "  a  hard  saying."  It  is  a  hard  saying.  It 
must  be  so,  to  us,  standing  so  far  as  we  are  from  confirmed, 
conscious,  and  rejoicing  freedom,  and  the  clear  perceptions 
which  belong  to  it.  But  these  words  may  have  for  us  some 
meaning,  as  we  know  the  joy  of  some  rightful  exercise  of 
true  freedom,  and  know  then  what  happiness  is.  And  that 
meaning  will  grow  into  fulness  of  light  as  we  advance  upon 
the  path  of  freedom  thus  opened  to  us. 

Quite  akin  to  this  mystery,  or  seeming  paradox,  is  another. 
It  is,  that  the  more  we  are  led  by  the  Lord,  and  the  more 
conscious  we  are  of  being  so  led,  the  more  freedom  we  have, 
and  the  more  consciousness  of  freedom. 

The  difficulty  here  is,  that  which  we  find  in  conceiving  of 
being  led  by  love.  There  is  little  in  us,  in  our  low  estate,  to 
enable  us  to  comprehend  that  love,  which  while  unceasingly 
watchful  to  lead  us  and  to  help  us,  has  never  one  particle  of 
a  desire  to  control  or  coerce  us.  "We  desire  freedom,  and  are 
impatient  under  restraint,  and  do  what  we  may  to  escape 
from  it.  But  our  love  of  freedom,  our  desire  to  escape  from 
all  that  hinders  it,  are  His  gifts  to  us :  they  come  to  us  from 
Him,  and  are  in  Him  and  His  before  they  are  ours ;  and  in 
Him  they  are  infinite  and  He  would  impart  them  to  us  in  the 
highest  degi'ee  in  which  we  could  receive  them  without  per- 
version and  without  harm.  It  is  necessary  for  the  purposes 
of  His  providence,  that  we  should  be  sometimes  scourged 
away  from  sin,  and  bound  as  with  iron  fetters.  But  our  de- 
sire to  escape  from  this  miserable  compulsion  is  but  a  small 
part  of  his  infinite  desire  that  we  should  escape,  and  He  uses 
all  possible  means  to  bring  us  into  a  condition  in  which  it 
may  be  possible  for  His  love  and  His  wisdom. to  liberate  us. 

8 


114      LIFE  FROM  ABOVE  AND  FROM  BELOW. 

The  highest  archangels,  those  who  are  freest  and  happiest, 
are  those  who  are  most  constantly  led  by  Him  ;  and  their 
consciousness  of  this  constitutes  their  happiness ;  for  it  is  a 
consciousness,  —  far  beyond  our  capacity  of  conception,  — 
that  His  leading  is  of  love,  and  that  it  is  love ;  and  that  the 
more  they  are  led  by  Him,  the  more  they  permit  His  love  to 
bless  them  with  freedom  and  happiness. 

We  may  be  helped  to  understand  this  by  contrasting  it 
with  its  opposite.  The  life  we  inherit  from  our  parents  must 
be  the  basis  of  our  personal  life,  and  must  ever  remain  as  the 
permanent  foundation  of  our  personal  life,  or  rather  as  the 
roots  out  of  which  it  grows.  But  what  we  inherit  from  our 
parents  is  a  spiritual  organism,  full  of  tendencies,  proclivities 
and  possibilities,  which  we  may  regard  as  vessels  receptive 
of  life.  As  they  are  filled  with  life,  we  live.  But  they  are 
filled  from  above  and  from  below.  They  are  filled  by  life 
which  in  its  origin  is  perfect  love,  but  which  comes  to  us 
through  those  who  so  temper  it  and  modify  it,  that  it  suits  and 
may  be  received  in  our  capacities  of  life.  If  it  came  only 
through  those  who  are  above  us,  only  our  capacities  of  good 
would  live.  Then  our  life  would  be  partial  and  one-sided, 
and  in  our  whole  selfhood  we  could  have  no  freedom. 
Therefore  life  comes  to  us  also  from  those  who  are  below, 
and  whatever  thus  comes  animates  our  capacities  of  evil. 
And  the  infinite  wisdom  is  at  every  moment  exercised,  so 
that  our  whole  life  may  be  equilibrated,  and  therefore  open 
to  our  self-determination ;  while  it  is  the  work  of  His  provi- 
dence, that  these  influences  may  be  such  as  shall  lead  us,  so 
far  as  is  possible  without  crushing  our  freedom,  to  choose  in- 
fluences from  above  and  therefore  to  invigorate  our  recepta- 
bility  of  those  influences,  and  to  resist  and  therefore  to 
weaken  our  receptability  and  our  need  of  influences  from 
below. 

But  with  what  a  diiFerence  do  these  influences  come  to  us. 
When  they  come  from  above,  they  come  from  those  who 


SLAVERY.  115 

know  what  freedom  is,  and  what  is  the  happiness  of  freedom. 
When  they  come  from  those  who  are  below,  they  come  from 
those  who  have  no  knowledge  of  true  freedom  or  true  happi- 
ness ;  they  come  from  and  they  come  with  the  desire  to  en- 
slave us.  For  a  time,  this  may  be  concealed  and  unknown 
on  the  side  of  good  and  on  the  side  of  evil.  For  a  time  all 
good  influences  have  their  work  to  do  in  overcoming  incli- 
nations to  evil,  and  resisting  habits  and  tendencies  ;  and  then 
their  work  seems  to  be  a  work  of  compulsion.  But  let  it  go 
on  to  its  consummation,  let  evil  inclinations  and  habits  and 
tendencies  be  overcome  and  put  away,  then,  and  only  then, 
we  know  and  feel  that  we  are  free,  and  the  freedom  within 
the  influences  which  have  made  us  free,  comes  into  our  con- 
sciousness, and  brings  with  it  its  happiness. 

So  at  first,  while  our  proclivities  to  sin  are  in  ftdl  force, 
the  life  that  fills  them  seems  to  us  to  promise  freedom,  and 
a  life  which  indulges  them  seems  to  us  the  only  free  life. 
And  therefore  we  regard  whatever  opposes  them  as  restraint 
and  compulsion.  Let  this  feeling  grow,  and  let  it  be  confirmed 
by  our  self-determination  to  evil,  and  the  influences  of  good 
retire,  baffled,  defeated  and  suppressed.  Then  is  our  life  evil. 
And  then  where  is  our  freedom?  TVe  find  ourselves  the 
slaves  of  our  lusts.  It  is  they  which  overmaster  us.  It  is 
they  which  lead  us  to  destruction.  It  is  they  which  bring 
upon  us,  even  in  this  life,  mischief  and  ruin,  which  such 
slaves  of  sin  often  see  afar  off,  and  look  upon  with  terror,  but 
step  by  step  approach,  and  deliver  themselves  up  to  it,  bound 
hand  and  foot  and  heart. 

Such  is  the  difference  between  true  freedom  and  false  free- 
dom. The  angels  have  true  freedom  and  true  happiness,  and 
know  it.  And  they  also  know  that  they  have  it  because 
they  have  been  delivered  from  the  lusts  of  self-love.  And 
when  an  emotion  of  the  conquered  lust  returns,  as  return  it 
will  for  their  instruction,  they  see  in  it  and  in  the  self  from 
which  it  comes,  the  source  of  all  misery,  they  turn  from  it  in 


116  HEAVENLY  FREEDOM. 

terror,  they  turn  from  it  to  the  leading  of  the  Lord ;  they 
seek  this  more  earnestly,  and  give  themselves  up  to  it  more 
devotedly ;  and  then  they  know  that  the  emotion  of  old  lust 
was  suffered  to  come  into  their  recollection  and  their  con- 
sciousness, that  it  might  invigorate  their  dependence  on  their 
Father  and  their  love  for  Him,  and  so  enlarge  and  confirm 
their  freedom  and  their  happiness. 

All  evil  spirits  believe  that  they  are  free,  excepting 
when  they  are  under  coercive  discipline.  They  imagine  no 
other  freedom  than  the  freedom  of  self  and  of  lust.  And 
the  angelic  freedom  of  deliverance  from  self,  and  depend- 
ence upon  God,  seems  to  them  only  abject  slavery.  For 
God  controls  them  too,  to  save  them  from  inflicting  deeper 
mischief  on  themselves.  But  He  controls  them  only  by  ter- 
ror, only  by  compulsion.  They  know  that  they  live  in  sub- 
jection to  Him ;  and  their  only  idea  of  freedom  is  to  escape 
from  this  subjection. 

All  that  has  been  said  of  heavenly  freedom,  and  of  infer- 
nal freedom,  is  necessarily  exhibited  in  human  life  and  human 
feeling  or  conduct,  so  far  as  these  are  under  influences  from 
above  or  influences  from  below. 

If  we  receive  life,  and  with  life  freedom,  primarily  from 
God  and  derivatively  from  angels,  we  receive  it  from  those 
who  have  not  perverted  the  life  or  abused  the  freedom  which 
they  have  themselves  received  from  God.  In  Him,  that  Life 
is  the  love  of  imparting  itself,  in  the  greatest  possible  degree, 
and  in  the  highest  possible  purity,  and  the  love  of  imparting 
the  utmost  freedom  as  a  necessary  element  of  divine  life,  and  a 
necessary  condition  for  rightly  receiving  divine  life.  Hence, 
there  is  in  the  divine  providence  everything  of  leading,  but 
nothing  of  compulsion ;  everything  of  assistance,  but  nothing 
of  force.  For  if  man  could  be  made  good  by  compulsion, 
all  men  would  be  made  good  by  Him  who  desires  nothing 
else. 

Because  angels  live  by  receiving  and  making  their  own 


ANGELIC  INFLUENCES.  117 

this  divine  life,  it  retains  in  them,  not  its  infinitude,  but  its 
characteristics.  Therefore  it  is  their  highest  happiness  to 
impart  their  own  freedom ;  to  teach  the  truth  they  have 
learned,  because  it  is  that  truth  which  makes  them  free ;  and 
to  excite  the  affections  which  will  welcome  and  love  that 
truth  that  it  may  guide  them  to  good.  But  however  earnest 
and  devoted  their  desire  to  help  men  to  be  good  and  wise, 
there  is  mingled  with  this  no  desire  to  compel  men  to  be 
either.  Whatever  pain  it  may  give  them  to  know  that  their 
efforts  to  help  men  are  resisted  and  overcome,  they  yield  at 
once  when  this  is  certain,  and  are  always  on  their  guard  that 
their  efforts  to  help  shall  not  be  tainted  with  the  desire  to 
force. 

And  then,  if  we  live  by  receiving  from  the  angels  the  life 
which  they  have  made  their  own,  we  must  receive  it  as  it  is ; 
not  in  the  measure  in  which  they  have  attained  to  it,  for  we 
have  not  yet  attained  to  that  measure ;  but  if  we  receive  that 
life  we  must  receive  it  with  its  characteristics.  We  must 
therefore  desire  to  impart  the  freedom  we  have,  for  we  must 
know  its  value ;  we  must  place  our  own  happiness  in  giving 
to  others  all  the  happiness  we  can ;  but  always  in  offering  it 
to  their  free  reception,  and  never  anything  more. 

But,  that  we  may  be  free,  and  that  our  freedom  may  grow 
by  our  own  exercise  and  cultivation  of  it,  angelic  influences 
meet  in  us,  as  has  been  repeatedly  said,  with  influences 
from  below ;  for  they  are  so  equilibrated  as  to  leave  the 
choice  to  us.  And  if  we  choose,  if  in  any  day  or  hour  we 
give  by  our  own  self-determination  prevalence  to  influences 
from  below,  and  live  from  them,  that  life  also  will  retain  its 
characteristics. 

It  had  become  their  life  from  whom  it  comes  to  us ;  and 
because  it  is  their  life,  it  has  in  it  no  true  freedom,  no  love 
for,  no  knowledge  of,  no  thought  of,  true  freedom.  They 
who  give  it  us,  desire  that  we  should  become  theirs,  their 
property,  their  slaves,  by  receiving  it ;  and  if  we  love  and 


118  WHEN  MAN  IS  MOST  FREE. 

choose  the  life  that  comes  from  them,  we  receive  it,  and  with 
it  its  characteristic  desire  to  make  others  our  property,  our 
slaves.  Angels  know  and  rejoice  in  knowing  that  their  life  is 
God's  life  given  to  them,  and  they  desire  most  of  all,  that  men 
should  learn  this  and  learn  to  rejoice  in  it.  But  they  who 
are  below  us  have  no  knowledge  of  God  but  as  their  master. 
He  is  their  Lord,  but  only  in  the  sense  of  irresistible  strength 
and  constant  control.  They  have  not  the  very  slightest  idea 
that  their  life  comes  to  them  from  Him  and  is  not  self-derived ; 
and  to  make  them  think  so,  would  be  to  make  them  miserable ; 
for  it  would  be  to  offend  their  pride,  self-love  and  self-worship. 
Because  nothing  of  this  truth  or  good  is  left  unperverted 
in  their  life,  nothing  of  it  comes  to  us  in  the  life  we  receive 
from  them,  but  always  the  reverse.  Therefore,  however 
strong  may  be  our  desire  to  help  others,  and  instruct  others, 
and  persuade  them  away  from  darkness  and  from  evil,  and 
whatever  be  our  devotion  to  purposes  so  good,  we  may  be 
sure  that  any  feeling  which  would  lead  us  to  forget  their 
freedom,  or  make  us  willing  to  restrain  or  impair  it,  comes 
from  below ;  and  that  it  comes  to  mingle  the  infernal  love  of 
dominating  over  others  with  whatever  of  good  purpose  we 
have. 

And  yet  it  is  certain,  that  man  never  is  so  free,  as  when  he 
is  compelling  himself,  from  evil  to  good.  When  we  are 
tempted  to  indulge  an  evil  desire,  or  to  do  an  evil  thing,  it  is 
an  evil  life  coming  into  us  from  below,  which  animates  that 
desire ;  and  in  that  evil  life  there  is  no  freedom,  and  no  love 
of  it,  and  no  other  desire  but  to  make  us  sin,  that  we  may  be 
the  servant  of  sin.  But  all  this  is  opposed,  in  our  internal, 
by  life  from  above ;  life  which  is  full  of  freedom  and  the  love 
of  freedom,  and  desire  to  make  us  free.  We  may  not  feel 
this  in  the  hour  of  conflict.  If  those  from  below  have  ruled 
us,  and  because  they  have  established  their  dominion  the  only 
question  is  whether  their  dominion  shall  be  overthrown,  we 
may,  perhaps  we  must,  so  far  side  with  them,  at  first,  that  we 


THE   CONFLICT  OF  LIFE.  119 

feel  as  they  feel  that  only  to  be  freedom  which  is  a  free  license 
to  sin  without  rebuke  or  chastisement.  But  they  who  have 
come  to  help  us,  come  to  make  us  truly  free ;  they  come  with 
the  knowledge  of  what  true  freedom  is,  with  an  earnest  love 
of  it,  and  an  earnest  desire  to  impart  it,  because  only  in  that 
freedom  can  we  put  evil  away.  And  if  we  receive  it ;  if  we 
compel  ourselves  by  its  help  and  in  its  strength  to  put  away 
our  enslaving  sin,  and  to  cast  away  them  who  through  this 
sin  would  enslave  us,  then  we  shall  conquer.  And  when  the 
conflict  is  over,  we  shall  be  free  indeed ;  we  shall  know  that 
we  are  free  indeed,  and  that  it  was  God  and  his  angels  who 
have  given  us  our  freedom ;  and  that  in  and  by  the  freedom 
they  gave  us,  we  have  conquered. 

Here  is  the  eternal  conflict  of  life.  At  every  moment,  as 
we  are  older  than  before,  so  we  are  farther  on  in  the  way  in 
which  we  are  going,  whithersoever  it  may  lead.  At  every 
step,  our  friends  and  our  enemies  have  disputed  the  guidance 
of  that  step.  Never  was  that  step  any  other  than  that  which 
we  chose  to  take.  Good  spirits  would  not  force  us,  and  evil 
spirits  were  not  permitted  to  force  us,  but  we  were  permitted 
to  compel  ourselves,  if  that  were  needed.  And  this  has 
always  been  true,  and  equally  true,  in  the  greater  temptations 
and  fierce  conflicts  which  come  rarely,  and  to  many  never,  and 
in  the  lesser  conflicts,  which  may  better  be  called  questions, 
which  do  come  to  all,  and  often.  They  come  whenever  we 
have  to  decide  whether  we  will  do  right  or  wrong ;  whether 
we  wiU  indulge  and  strengthen  the  love  of  right  or  the  love 
of  wrong ;  whether  we  will  accept  or  reject  a  truth  which  is 
offered  to  us  and  is  within  our  capacity  of  apprehension  if  we 
choose  to  exert  it ;  whether,  in  matters  of  affection  or  those 
of  belief,  we  will  listen  to  the  multitudinous  voices  of  those 
who  through  our  love  of  self,"  our  mistaken  habits,  our  pre- 
judices, or  even  our  indolence,  whisper  to  us  words  or 
thoughts,  wliich  if  we  follow,  we  must  go,  at  that  time,  and  so 
far  as  that  step  may  lead  us,  downwards.     K  we  turn  a  deaf 


120     THE  SON  SHALL  MAKE   US  FREE. 

ear  to  the  tempter,  and  make  whatever  of  effort  is  then  de- 
manded, we  turn  towards  them  whose  only  desire,  whose  only- 
effort,  and  whose  only  effect  upon  our  minds,  is  to  make  us 
free.  They  are  His  servants,  but  His  service  is  not  servitude  ; 
they  utter  His  words  ;  and  if  we  listen  to  them,  through  theta 
"  the  Son  shall  make  us  free,  and  we  shall  be  free  indeed." 


PRAYER.  121 


CHAPTER  YII. 

OF  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER, 

In  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  our  Lord  gives  us  a  form  of 
prayer,  which  is  also  given  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Luke, 
with  a  slight  variation  of  language,  and  the  omission  of  the 
last  clause ;  which  is  also  omitted  in  many  ancient  manu- 
scripts of  the  Gospel  of  Matthew.  This  prayer,  known  in 
all  ages  as  the  Lord's  prayer,  has  always  been  prominent  in 
the  public  services  of  Christians,  excepting  that  in  this  coun- 
try, all  the  churches  which  discard  forms  of  prayer,  make 
little  use,  and  some  of  them  no  use  of  this  prayer. 

In  the  public  services  of  the  church  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
it  is  very  prominent ;  more  so  perhaps  than  in  any  other 
churches  of  the  present  or  past  ages.  By  many  societies  it 
is  the  only  prayer  used  in  public.  And  it  is  believed  that  it 
is  also  very  prominent  in  the  family  or  private  devotions  of 
members  of  this  church.  There  is  however  nowhere  in  this 
church  any  belief  that  it  is  the  only  prayer  which  may  prop- 
erly be  used,  either  in  public  or  in  private  ;  nowhere  a  belief 
that  the  supplication  for  help  and  guidance  and  support  may 
not  be  as  special  and  as  urgent  as  the  need.  We  remember 
that  our  Lord  commands  us  only  to  pray  "  after  this  manner " 
—  a  phrase  which  exactly  represents  the  Greek  words  which 
it  translates. 

And  pray  as  we  will,  how  can  we  utter  a  prayer  which  is 
worthy  to  ascend  on  high,  and  pray  in  any  other  "  manner  "  ? 
"When  we  use  the  Lord's  prayer,  we  recognize  Him  as  our 
heavenly  Father ;  we  ask  that  His  name,  or  all  that  by  which 


122  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER. 

he  is  or  can  become  known  to  us,  may  be  held  by  us  as  holy ; 
that  His  sovereignty  over  us  may  be  established ;  that  His  will 
may  be  done  here  as  it  is  done  in  the  realms  above,  where  all 
life  and  all  happiness  rest  upon  the  recognition,  the  worship 
and  the  love  of  Him  as  their  Father,  —  and,  more  than  this, 
we  ask  that  His  will  may  be  done  in  the  earth  of  our  minds, 
or  in  the  lower  and  external  degree  of  our  minds  wherein 
we  come  in  contact  with  the  earth  and  practical  life  upon  it, 
as  it  is  done  in  the  heaven  of  our  minds  or  that  internal 
and  higher  region,  which  is  open  to  influences  from  above 
and  by  them  may  be  animated  with  the  life  of  heaven.  We 
ask  for  daUy  sustenance  for  body  and  soul,  and  for  that  bread 
of  heaven,  which  may  strengthen  our  knowledge  of  our  per- 
fect and  constant  dependence  upon  him,  and  our  love  of  this 
dependence.  "We  ask  for  forgiveness ;  for  the  only  forgive- 
ness He  can  grant  who  wishes  only  to  forgive,  but  who  can 
forgive  us,  only  as  we  forgive  others,  or  as  we  are  willing 
that  He  should  put  away  from  us  hatred,  and  that  selfishness 
which  is  the  root  of  all  hatred.  And  finally  we  ask  for  de- 
liverance from  all  evil ;  we  ask  it  of  Him  who  alone  can 
deliver  us ;  and  we  ask  that  it  may  be  a  complete  deliver- 
ance ;  that  it  may  come  to  us  without  temptation.  "  Lead  us 
not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil."  Through  all 
the  steps  of  our  advance,  there  must  be  conflict,  temptation, 
and  victory  over  temptation.  But  when  the  end  is  reached, 
we  are  delivered  from  evil  without  the  conflict  and  the 
suffering  of  temptation,  because  we  need  no  more  of  con- 
flict and  suffering  when  He  is  our  king,  or  His  "  kingdom " 
has  come ;  and  our  strength  is  His,  and  His  is  all  the 
"  power "  within  us,  and  we  know  it  and  give  to  Him  the 
"  glory : "  or  when  His  "  is  the  kingdom,  the  power  and  the 
glory."  For  this  closing  clause  added  in  Matthew,  only 
states  by  what  means  or  in  what  condition  of  mind  our  de- 
liverance from  evil  may  be  carried  to  that  completion  which 
shall  give  to  our  souls  the  Sabbath  of  Peace. 


WHAT  PRATER  IS.  123 

What  good  thing  is  omitted  from  this  prayer ;  what  can  we 
ask,  that  it  would  be  for  our  eternal  good  that  we  should 
have,  that  is  not  asked  for  when  we  pray  this  prayer  ?  How 
can  we  pray  aright,  and  worthily,  for  any  special  good  for 
which  at  that  moment  we  hunger,  for  any  special  protection 
or  relief  which  would  then  calm  our  distress  or  lift  us  out  of 
sorrow,  if  we  do  not,  however  special  or  urgent  our  prayer 
may  be,  pray  "  after  the  manner,"  of  that  prayer  which  the 
object  of  all  prayer  gives  us  as  a  synopsis,  a  general  but  a 
perfect  expression,  of  all  good  prayer. 

In  every  system  of  religion,  and  in  every  enumeration  of 
religious  duties,  prayer  holds  an  important  place.  This  is 
emphatically  true  of  the  Bible,  and  equally  true  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  of  the  New.  Prayer  may  indeed  be  regarded 
as  the  universal  command  of  all  religion,  and  the  universal 
practice  of  all  religious  men. 

And  yet  many  thoughtful  persons  are  troubled  by  a  diffi- 
culty of  seeing  what  prayer  is,  or  what  prayer  does.  Can  it 
teach  the  Omniscient  what  we  need  ?  Does  not  the  author  of 
the  perfect  prayer  tell  us,  that  our  Father  in  heaven  knows 
what  things  we  need  before  we  ask  Him ;  and  are  we  not  sure 
that  He  knows  all  this,  not  only  before  we  ask,  but  infinitely 
better  than  we  can  know  it,  and  infinitely  better  than  we  can 
teUHim? 

And  then,  can  we  strengthen  His  desire  to  give  us  what 
we  need  ?  Can  we  enlarge  or  intensify  that  love  which  is 
already  infinite  ?  Can  we  make  that  desire  for  our  good  any 
more  by  adding  to  it  our  own  desire,  when  our  desire  is  itself 
but  a  finite  portion  of  an  infinite  desire,  coming  to  us  from 
the  Infinite  that  it  may  lift  our  thoughts  upwards  towards  its 
source. 

What  then  is  prayer,  and  what  can  prayer  do  ?  To  this 
question  the  New  Church  gives  an  answer. 

In   the   brightest  day  that  ever   shone,  when  light  and 


124  WHAT  PRATER  DOES. 

warmth  filled  the  glowing  sky  and  bathed  earth  and  every- 
thing upon  it  in  effulgence,  —  if  the  walls  and  ceilings  of  our 
habitations  are  closed  and  impenetrable,  what  are  all  the 
warmth  and  glow  to  us  in  our  dark  and  cold  dwellings  ?  But 
if  we  open  wide  our  doors  and  windows,  what  are  they  then  ? 
Light,  and  warmth,  and  new  life,  new  strength,  new  rejoic- 
ing, new  sympathy  with  all  who  are  rejoicing  in  that  fulness 
of  day. 

Prayer  opens  the  doors  and  windows  of  the  soul. 

But  how  it  does  this  work,  we  must  learn  from  what  our 
church  teaches  us  of  the  relations  between  God  and  man.  It 
is  because  there  is  a  science  of  religion,  and  its  truths  are 
systematically  bound  together,  that  we  are  obliged  in  seeking 
the  solution  of  any  problem,  to  refer  to  those  fundamental 
principles  which  have  been  before  referred  to,  and  must  be 
again  in  the  endeavor  to  answer  other  questions. 

The  foundation  of  all  genuine  religious  truth  is,  that  He' 
alone  is  Life,  and  has  Life  in  Himself;  and  all  created  things 
are  created  by  having  His  infinite  life  finited  for  and  adapted 
to  their  reception,  and  given  to  them  to  become  most  abso- 
lutely their  own. 

Let  me  pause  to  repeat  this  great  truth.  Man  lives,  be- 
cause God  gives  His  own  divine  life  to  man,  to  become  in 
man  his  human  life.  Swedenborg  defines  love  as  "  the  desire 
that  what  is  one's  own  should  become  another's."  We  may 
see  this  on  all  scales  and  in  all  proportions.  When  one  be- 
gins to  love  another,  he  desires  to  give  him  some  good  thing. 
The  more  he  loves  the  more  he  desires  to  give  what  he  thinks 
good  to  the  person  who  is  loved.  And  if  his  love  becomes 
complete  he  desires  to  communicate  to  the  object  of  it  all  he 
has  of  good.  We  may  then  form  some — a  most  imperfect  — 
idea  of  the  infinite  love  of  God,  when  we  know  that  He 
gives  Himself,  His  own  Life,  to  man,  to  become  man's  own ; 
to  become  the  life  whereby  man  lives.  And  then  there  may 
begin  to  grow  in  us  some  response  to  this  love ;  our  love  in 


LOVE.  125 

return  for  His  love.  Nor  will  it  reach  its  full  stature  until 
we  love  the  Lord  our  God,  with  all  the  heart,  mind,  strength 
and  soul.     But  let  us  return  to  our  immediate  topic. 

The  life  He  gives  us  is  Love.  What  life  is,  or  what  love  is, 
in  its  inmost  and  infinite  being,  we  cannot  fully  comprehend. 
But,  from  what  love  is  when  it  is  in  our  wills,  (which  are 
only  forms  capable  of  receiving  it),  we  may  attain  to  some 
conception  of  what  love  is  in  its  essence ;  and  this  concep- 
tion however  inadequate,  may  be  just  and  accurate  as  far  as 
it  goes. 

Hence  we  may  see  that  the  infinite  divine  Life  must  be,  or 
must  have  in  it,  an  infinite  desire  of  doing  good,  or  giving 
happiness.  Hence  again,  this  life,  or  this  love,  must  desire  to 
give  itself,  for  that  must  be  the  greatest  good.  Therefore  it 
creates  men;  and  creates  them  such  that  this  life  may  be 
given  to  them ;  and  may  be  so  given  to  them  that  it  becomes 
their  own,  —  their  own  life  with  all  the  incidents  and  ele- 
ments of  actual  personal  and  individual  life.  The  foundation 
of  all  of  this  is,  as  was  said  in  the  preceding  chapter,  free- 
dom, or  self-determination ;  or  the  power  which  a  man  has  of 
choosing  what  he  himself  shall  love,  and  do,  and  be. 

In  the  degree  in  which  man's  life  is  his  own  is  his  power  of 
self-determination ;  and  in  the  same  degree  is  he  a  person, 
or  a  personal  being,  or  himself.  And  in  the  degree  in  which 
he  is  this,  it  is  possible  for  him  to  receive  the  influent  divine 
life  and  make  it  his  own  life ;  and  that  life  will  become 
whatever  he  may  make  it  although  in  its  origin  and  essence 
it  is  a  perfectly  free  and  a  perfectly  pure  love  of  good.  And 
in  the  degree  in  which  he  can  receive  this  life  without  per- 
version, is  he  capable  of  receiving  with  the  divine  love  of 
good,  the  divine  happiness  which  belongs  to  it.  Hence,  on 
the  one  hand,  man  has  not,  cannot  have,  and  never  possesses, 
one  particle  of  pure,  vital,  and  enduring  happiness,  that  he 
has  not  made  his  own,  by  the  exercise  of  his  power  of  self- 
determination  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  divine  life  and 


126  PRAYER  ENLARGES   GOD'S  POWER. 

goodness  and  happiness  are  all  around  him,  and  ever  near 
him,  ever  pressing  for  entrance  into  him,  and  ever  urging  him 
to  let  them  enter ;  urging  him  always,  —  so  far  as  freedom 
permits,  —  but  never  farther. 

We  may  now  see  what  Prayer  is,  and  what  Prayer  does. 
It  is  one  of  the  conditions  for  the  entrance  of  goodness  and 
happiness  into  his  soul,  because  the  desire  of  these  to  enter 
can  be  gratified  only  when  there  is  a  responsive  desire  that 
they  should  enter.  And  prayer  is  at  once  an  expression  of 
this  desire  and  a  confirmation  and  vivification  of  it.  It  is  a 
method  and  a  means  disclosed  to  man  and  appointed  to  him, 
for  receiving  goodness  and  happiness,  because,  whenever  he 
utters  from  his  heart  a  good  prayer  he  prays  for  a  good  thing ; 
he  looks  distinctly  at  this  good  thing,  and  for  the  time  sees 
more  clearly  and  feels  more  deeply  that  it  is  good  and  that  he 
will  be  better  and  happier  for  having  it ;  and  this,  of  itself, 
does  much  to  remove  the  falsities  and  suppress  the  proclivities 
which  deceive  him  as  to  what  is  true  and  good.  He  asks  it  of 
God  ;  and  the  fervent  acknowledgment  of  Him  as  Father  and 
source  and  giver  of  all  good,  does  much  to  clear  away  the 
doubts  and  obscurities  which  spring  from  the  natural  tendency 
of  the  human  mind  to  regard  itself  as  an  independent  centre 
and  source  of  its  own  thought  and  life.  And  it  is  thus  that 
prayer  to  God  enlarges  His  power ;  for  it  makes  it  possible 
for  Him  to  give  more  of  that  which  He  always  desires  to 
give  in  the  fullest  measure. 

The  power  of  God  is  indeed  infinite.  But  the  power  of  God 
comes  from  the  absolute  unity  of  His  infinite  love  with  His 
infinite  wisdom.  We  have  an  image  of  this  in  ourselves,  for 
we  may  see  this  law  of  the  divine  life  even  in  that  life  when 
it  is  given  to  us  and  becomes  our  own.  For  it  is  impossible 
for  us  to  put  forth  the  slightest  possible  strength  or  effort, 
except  by  the  union  of  something  of  desire  with  something  of 
thought.  We  may  see  therefore,  that  if  the  love  of  God  leads 
Him  to  desire  to  impart  to  us  the  greatest  possible  good.  He 


WET  PRATER  IS  COMMANDED.  127 

must  see  by  His  wisdom,  what  are  the  best  means  to  accom- 
plish this  purpose.  Two  consequences  follow.  One  is,  that 
if  prayer  be  one  of  the  most  efifectual  of  these  means,  we 
may  be  certain  that  God  would  teach,  command  and  inspire 
prayer.  The  converse  of  this  is,  that  if  He  has  commanded 
prayer,  and  if  this  command  enters  into  all  religious  revela- 
tion of  every  age  and  evexy  kind,  and  if  prayer  is  inspired 
into  the  human  heart  so  that  it  is  a  universal  practice,  existing 
wherever  all  the  voices  of  religion  are  not  suppressed,  we  may 
be  sure  that  this  is  because  infinite  wisdom  sees  it  to  be  one  of 
the  most  effectual  instruments  of  infinite  love. 

All  difficulty  on  this  subject  comes  in  fact  from  doubt  and 
darkness  as  to  the  existence  of  God  or  His  care  for  men.  It 
is  metaphysical  and  ratiocinative.  And  because  a  philosophy 
must  be  blind  which  will  not  see  the  Light ;  because  it  cannot 
see  truth  if  it  refuses  to  look  at  the  source  of  all  truth  ;  because 
it  can  have  no  knowledge  of  the  true  relation  of  causes  and 
effects  if  it  refuses  to  carry  back  the  series  of  causes  to  the 
first  cause ;  because  finally,  the  renunciation  of  self  conceit, 
self-admiration  and  self-trust  is  as  absolutely  necessary  to  all 
progress  in  true  wisdom,  as  the  renunciation  of  selfishness  is 
necessary  to  all  progress  in  true  goodness,  —  therefore,  such 
a  philosophy  as  this,  or  any  train  of  thought  or  inquiry  which 
may  be  so  characterized,  can  teach  no  truth,  and  cannot  but 
teach  error ;  for  it  has  no  source  but  darkness  and  can  lead  to 
no  result  but  darkness. 

The  simple,  childlike,  common-sense  conclusion  about  pray- 
er is  one  with  that  which  is  reached  by  a  sound  philosophy, 
using  rational  metaphysics.  All  philosophy,  as  all  science, 
must  begin  from  axioms,  assumed  to  be  true.  And  philosophy 
may,  or  rather  must  choose  the  axioms  of  her  starting-point, 
either  from  the  fallacies  of  sense  and  the  falsities  of  lust  or 
self-love,  or  from  the  simplest  and  most  certain  truths  of  re- 
ligion. K  these  last  are  the  axioms  of  a  philosophy,  its  path 
is  upward  and  is  at  every  step  more  luminous.    And  it  tells  us 


128  THE  PRAYER   OF  SOLOMON. 

concerning  prayer,  that  it  is  one  of  the  ways,  or  one  of  the 
efforts,  by  which  man  may  open  his  heart  for  the  reception  of 
good  affections  and  his  mind  for  the  reception  of  truth ;  or  as 
one  of  the  ways  or  efforts,  by  which  he  may  resist,  suppress 
and  overcome  the  tendencies  to  self-love,  self-conceit,  and 
self-worship,  and  merely  sensuous  thought  or  life,  which  form 
the  great  hinderance  to  his  unperverting  reception  of  life  and 
his  understanding  of  truth.  It  tells  us  how  prayer  does  in 
fact  enlarge  the  divine  power  to  do  what  the  divine  love 
desires  to  do.  And  therefore  it  tells  us,  why  He  has  placed 
in  every  religion  He  has  given  or  permitted  among  men  — 
Prayer  —  and  given  to  it  great  prominence  and  value,  that 
thereby  this  religion  might  become  a  means  of  His  possessing 
the  power  to  bless  men  as  He  would  bless  them. 

Let  us  suppose  a  human  father  with  a  gift  in  his  hand  for 
his  child,  which  he  earnestly  desires  to  give.  But  the  very 
wisdom  of  his  paternal  love  tells  him  that  his  child  is  not 
ready  to  receive  it,  and  would  cast  it  away  or  put  it  to  a 
wrongful  use  and  be  harmed  by  it.  He  cannot  now  give  it ; 
his  very  love  for  his  child  makes  it  impossible.  He  tries  to 
inspire  his  child  with  a  rightful  desire  for  it.  Pie  waits,  until 
the  earnest  prayer  of  the  child  assures  him  that  the  desire 
exists  and  the  child  is  ready  to  receive  the  gift  and  make 
a  rightful  use  of  it  and  be  the  better  for  it.  Then  he  can 
give  it ;  and  he  does  give  it.  And  in  this  simple  supposition, 
I  believe  I  have  illustrated  the  whole  philosophy  of  prayer. 

In  the  prayer  of  Solomon  at  the  dedication  of  the  temple, 
the  words  "  Hear  Thou,  in  heaven  thy  dwelling  place,"  occur 
again  and  again.  And  this  thought,  whatever  be  the  words, 
must  be  present  in  all  prayer.  Nor  is  it  ever  more  in  accord- 
ance with  our  nature  or  with  essential  truth,  that  a  child 
should  beseech  his  father  for  a  good  gift,  in  the  belief  that  by 
his  earnest  entreaty  he  may  get  what  otherwise  he  would  not 
get,  than  it  is  for  man  to  pray  earnestly  to  God  for  his  gifts, 
in  the  very  same  belief.     It  was  perfect  wisdom  as  well  as 


ENTHUSIASM.  129 

perfect  love  which  clothed  itself  in  the  words,  "  Ask  and  it 
shall  be  given  unto  you.  Seek  and  ye  shall  find.  Knock 
and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you.  For  every  one  that  asketh 
receiveth ;  and  he  that  seeketh  findeth ;  and  to  him  that 
knocketh,  it  shall  be  opened."  "  If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know 
how  to  give  *good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much  more 
shall  your  Heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them 
that  ask  Him." 

They  who  pray  to  Him  in  simplicity,  with  no  thought  un- 
like in  kind  to  that  which  might  belong  to  their  entreaty  to 
an  earthly  father,  are  far  wiser  than  the  thoughtful  who  in 
the  pride  and  the  darkness  of  self-intelligence,  reason  away  all 
belief  in  the  possibility  of  approaching  God  in  prayer.  But 
will  their  prayers  lose  in  fervor  or  in  efficacy,  as  they  see 
more  clearly,  that  by  prayer  they  break  down  the  obstructions 
between  them  and  God,  and  enable  Him  to  do  more  for  them  ? 
His  love  must  always  be  one  with  His  wisdom,  and  work  in 
accordance  with  His  order.  The  end  His  love  has  in  view 
is  infinite  blessing ;  but  because  His  love  is  wise,  it  desires  at 
any  moment  to  give  only  that  which  may  then  be  a  blessing. 
When  we  come  into  a  state  in  which  more  may  be  given,  this 
desire  enlai'ges.  And  —  to  refer  again  to  the  illustration  I  have 
used  —  when  a  child  by  earnest  solicitation  convinces  his  father 
that  it  may  be  well  to  give  him  what  he  seeks  and  so  the 
father  becomes  willing  to  give  it  because  he  sees  it  to  be  well, 
and  therefore  gives  it,  —  all  this,  I  repeat,  is  but  a  feeble  and 
imperfect  but  still  a  just  representation  of  the  effect  of  prayer 
to  God ;  of  prayer  by  us  as  His  children,  to  our  Father  in 
heaven. 

We  read  of  enthusiasts  who  believe  that  their  urgent 
prayer  for  some  outward  and  earthl}"^  good  is  often  answered  ; 
and  they  tell  many  stories  illustrative  of  their  reliance  upon 
prayer  to  supply  their  wants,  and  of  the  justification  of  this 
reliance  to  be  found  in  their  experience.  In  all  this  there 
may  be  much  illusion  and  error ;  but  there  may  also  be  some 

9 


130     •         MAN  CO-OPERATES   WITH  OOD. 

valuable  and  instructive  fact.  I  can  understand,  that  a  man 
in  want  of  food,  or  clothing,  or  shelter,  may  pray  sincerely 
and  fervently  for  it,  and  by  this  prayer  bring  himself  into  a 
state  of  mind  to  look  at  the  thing  when  it  comes  as  the  gift 
of  God,  and  to  treat  it  and  use  it  to  the  extent  of  his  ability, 
as  a  gift  from  God  should  be  used.  This  state 'may  make  it 
well  for  him  that  the  thing  should  come ;  and  then  it  will 
come.  At  all  events  this  view  of  prayer  and  this  use  of 
prayer  is  nearer  the  truth,  and  more  conformed  to  reason  and 
religion,  than  the  renunciation  of  all  prayer  on  the  ground 
that  God  knows  always  what  is  good  for  us,  and  will  give 
that  good.  It  may  indeed  be  doubted,  whether  a  disuse  of 
prayer  ever  rests,  in  fact,  upon  this  ground.  It  may  use 
these  words,  or  take  this  shape  in  the  thought.  But  its  true 
cause  and  origin  are  to  be  found  in  a  dimness  of  belief  in  the 
existence  and  providence  of  God ;  for  where  this  belief  is  clear 
and  steadfast,  it  would  seem  to  be  impossible  not  to  pray  to 
Him. 

Because,  while  all  things  are  forms  receptive  of  being  in 
various  lower  degrees,  man  alone  is  the  crown  of  all,  he 
alone  is  created  such  that  he  may  voluntarily  work  with  God. 
Because  he  may,  if  he  will  not,  the  highest  work  of  God  can- 
not be  done.  And  if  he  will,  his  capacity  so  to  work,  and  his 
consequent  receptivity  of  divine  life  as  his  own,  —  not  his 
own  as  from  himself  but  his  own  as  by  the  constant  gift  of 
God,  —  enlarge  forever  and  forever.  More  than  this  God 
cannot  do,  or  give ;  for  He  cannot  take  away  —  His  perfect 
love  will  not  permit  Him  to  take  away  —  that  freedom,  and 
power  of  self-determination,  which  is  the  foundation  of 
character,  and  upon  which  rests  the  possibility  of  man's 
eternal  growth  in  goodness  and  in  happiness. 

Only  to  them  who  ask,  can  it  be  given.  In  the  81st 
Psalm  it  is  said,  "  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God  which  brought 
thee  out  of  Egypt:  open  thy  mouth  wide  and  I  will  fill  it. 
But  my  people  would  not  hearken  to  my  voice ;  and  Israel 


ACCORDING   TO  HIS   WATS.  131 

would  none  of  me.  So  I  gave  them  up  unto  their  own  hearts' 
lust ;  and  they  walked  in  their  own  counsels.  Oh,  that  my 
people  had  hearkened  unto  me,  and  Israel  had  walked  in  my 
ways !  I  should  soon  have  subdued  their  enemies  and  turned 
my  hand  against  their  adversaries." 

Surely  it  needs  no  exposition,  no  argument,  to  infer  from 
this,  if  only  we  believe  that  our  Father  loves  us,  that  if  we 
do  not  open  our  mouth  and  He  does  not  fill  it,  this  is  because 
He,  then,  cannot  fill  it.  That  when  Israel  will  not  hearken 
to  His  voice  and  will  have  "  none  of  Him,"  He  gives  them 
up  to  their  own  lusts  and  permits  them  to  walk  in  their  own 
counsels,  only  because  He  cannot  do  otherwise.  And  then 
an  infinite  tenderness  of  love  utters  the  lamentation,  that  His 
people  would  not  hearken  to  Him,  and  would  not  walk  in 
His  ways,  because  if  they  only  would,  He  could  soon  subdue 
those  enemies  and  turn  His  hand  against  those  adversaries,  to 
which  they  now  give  themselves  up. 

Only  to  those  who  ask  can  good  be  given ;  and  asking  is 
prayer.  Only  those  who  desire  can  receive ;  and  desire  for 
any  good  expressing  itself  and  accompanied  with  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  giver,  is  prayer. 

In  the  chapter  which  has  been  already  referred  to  (1  Kings, 
viii.),  it  is  said,  "  Then  hear  in  heaven  thy  dwelling  place,  and 
forgive ;  and  do  and  give  to  every  man  according  to  his  ways." 
So  will  He  hear,  and  do,  and  give,  and  otherwise  He  cannot. 
"  According  to  his  ways "  each  man  is  capable  of  receiving 
good  and  becoming  good.  And  one  of  the  ways,  of  the  most 
effectual  ways,  by  which  man  may  become  capable  of  receiving 
the  greatest  blessings  which  infinite  love  can  give  him,  is  the 
way  of  earnest,  fervent  prayer. 


132  LIFE  AFTER  DEATH. 


CHAPTER  YIII. 

OF   THE    SPIRITUAL   WORLD. 

In  all  ages  and  among  all  nations,  the  fact  of  a  life  after 
death  has  been  known.  Divine  Providence  has  imparted 
and  sustained  this  belief  in  a  great  variety  of  ways.  But 
little  has  been  known  of  the  laws,  the  forms  and  appearances 
of  that  other  life.  Here,  as  everywhere  else,  the  gift  of  truth 
is  gradual  and  progressive.  And  now  the  time  has  come 
when  Divine  Wisdom  could  see  that  more  might  well  be 
given,  and  more  therefore  is  given.  But  here  as  everywhere 
else,  all  new  and  important  truth  comes  with  a  certain  shock 
to  minds  satisfied  with  what  they  know,  and  indurated  with 
the  belief  that  what  they  know  is  the  limit  of  all  that  is 
knowable. 

To  thinking  men  of  the  present  age  this  new  truth  comes 
with  a  peculiar  shock.  The  majority  of  persons  are  not  think- 
ing men,  or  do  not  think  much  about  these  things ;  and  they 
still  retain  a  general  and  obscure  but  sometimes,  perhaps,  a 
strong  belief  of  a  life  after  death.  But  there  has  never  been 
a  period,  when  among  thinking  men  there  was  so  little  belief 
of  this  kind.  One  reason  is,  that  their  minds  have  been 
turned  in  an  extraordinary  degree  towards  the  mysteri(}s  of 
life  and  death.  They  ask  for  evidence ;  they  wish  to  believe ; 
and  where  they  cannot  believe  they  still  hope.  But  they  ask 
for  such  evidence  of  this  truth  as  satisfies  them  in  relation  to 
truths  of  a  different  order.  They  get  no  evidence  of  this 
kind  ;  they  get  nothing  which  seems  to  them  evidence ;  they 


BELIEF  OF  EARLT  CHRISTIANS.  133 

lose  all  belief,  while  many  retain  the  hope,  and  try  to  confirm 
it  in  themselves  by  calling  it  belief. 

The  Gospels  teach  immortality.  The  reference  to  another 
life  is  constant  in  the  sayings  of  our  Lord.  His  own  Resur- 
rection proved  it.  While  the  scriptures  given  to  the  Jews 
seem  to  refer  to  another  life  seldom  and  remotely,  the  Chris- 
tian scriptures  found  their  whole  instruction  upon  it ;  and  the 
apostle  Paul  says,  "Our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  .  .  .  brought 
immortality  and  life  to  light  through  the  Gospel."  That  the 
doctrine  of  another  life  is  constantly  asserted  in  the  Gospels, 
is  almost  the  only  thing  that  has  never  been  questioned.  In 
a  church  founded  on  this  belief,  we  should  expect  to  find  a 
far  more  universal  belief  and  a  far  stronger  belief  than  under 
any  other  form  of  religion.  But  do  we  find  this  ?  Waiving 
all  question  as  to  the  reasonableness  or  folly  cf  the  belief, 
and  thinking  only  of  its  distinctness  and  strength,  they  who 
have  such  acquaintance  with  the  condition  of  thought  among 
Mahommedan  and  Heathen  nations  as  may  be  derived  from 
books  about  them,  are  compelled  to  admit  that  the  belief  of 
another  life  is  more  strong  and  general  among  those  nations 
than  it  is  among  Christians.  It  was  strong,  very  strong, 
among  the  early  Christians.  It  was  indeed  one  of  the  topics 
of  reproach  cast  upon  them  by  their  opponents,  that  their 
certainty  of  immortality  made  them  glad  to  die.  What  has 
become  of  this  certainty  ? 

One  reason  for  the  present  spread  of  unbelief  arises,  how- 
ever paradoxical  it  may  seem,  from  a  very  general  desire, 
amounting  with  many  to  a  longing,  after  belief,  after  knowl- 
edge of  this  kind.  There  is  an  effort  after  this  knowledge ; 
and  when  it  is  imsuccessful,  the  sense  of  disappointment 
suggests  that  there  is  nothing  to  be  known.  And  this 
wide-spread  hunger  for  this  truth  is  one  of  the  indications 
that  the  time  has  come  when  it  may  be  given.  But  it 
does  not  follow  from  the  hunger  for  this  truth,  that  it 
must  be  readily  received  when  it  is  offered.     How  often  may 


134  .    NEW  TRUTH  NOW  GIVEN. 

it  be  well  to  remember,  that  the  whole  Jewish  nation  were 
anxiously  expecting  their  Messiah ;  but  when  He  came,  He 
was  not  such  a  Messiah  as  they  expected  and  desired,  and 
they  rejected  and  crucified  Him. 

The  time  has  come  for  this  truth,  this  information,  to  be 
given  ;  and  it  is  given  through  Swedenborg.  "We  have  said 
elsewhere  enough  to  show  what  we  mean  by  the  opening  of 
the  spiritual  senses.  Instances  of  this  have  never  been  com- 
mon, but  have  always  occurred.  This  opening  of  the  spiritual 
senses  is  always  possible ;  and  always  takes  place  when  and 
only  when  Divine  Providence  discerns  that  some  useful  end 
may  be  accomplished  in  that  way.  Then  this  opening  of  the 
senses  is  adapted  to  this  end ;  it  is  slight,  brief,  imperfect,  or 
more  and  better  than  this,  as  the  end  to  be  accomplished 
requires. 

It  was  the  work  of  Swedenborg  to  do  what  it  had  never  be- 
fore been  well  for  mankind,  that  any  human  being  should  be 
permitted  to  do.  The  end  to  be  effected  by  the  opening  of  his 
senses  was  incomparably  greater  than  had  ever  been  effected 
by  these  means  before.  And  therefore  the  opening  of  his 
senses  was  proportionally  more  complete  and  more  per- 
manent. 

He  was  born  in  1688.  In  1745,  when  he  was  fifty-seven 
years  old,  his  spiritual  senses  were  opened ;  and  continued 
open  with  brief  and  rare  intervals  until  his  death  in  1772; 
that  is,  during  a  period  of  twenty-seven  years.  During  all 
this  time  he  saw,  heard  and  felt  the  spiritual  world  and 
the  persons  and  things  there,  in  like  manner  as  all  do  after 
death.  But  with  two  important  differences.  The  first  is, 
that  he  was  prepared  by  a  long  and  high  culture  of  extra- 
ordinary abilities,  to  understand  all  that  he  saw  and  heard. 
The  next  is,  that  while  we  shall  all  go  to  our  final  places  in 
that  world  through  many  introductory  and  preparatory  expe- 
riences, and  learn  on  the  way  whatever  they  can  teach,  his 
mission,  or  the  end  for  which  his  spiritual  senses  were  thus 


SPIRITUAL   SUBSTANCE.  135 

opened,  required  that  he  should  go  to  all  places,  or  rather  to 
places  of  all  kinds,  and  see  and  learn  things  of  all  kinds. 

He  tells  us  that  there  is  a  spiritual  world ;  that  it  is  most 
real  and  substantial ;  that  men  live  there  an  actual  bodily  and 
sensational  life  with  all  things  about  them  suited  to  them 
and  to  their  senses. 

Here  is  the  difficulty.  Well  may  it  be  asked  is  this  pos- 
sible, is  it  conceivable  ?  It  may  be  said  to  me,  you  say  mat- 
ter is  not  there,  and  yet  there  are  hills  and  streams  and  houses 
and  garments  and  food.  How  can  these  be  where  matter  is 
not  ?  I  answer  they  are  formed,  not  of  material  substance, 
but  of  spiritual  substance.  And  then  may  come  the  reply, 
the  very  phrase  "  spiritual  substance "  involves  an  absolute 
contradiction ;  spirit  and  substance  stand  in  perfect  opposition 
to  each  other ;  either  excludes  the  other ;  that  which  is  only 
spirit  cannot  be  substance,  and  that  which  is  substance  cannot 
be  spirit. 

The  only  answer  to  this  must  be  an  explanation  of  what 
I  conceive  spiritual  substance  to  be.  Nor  can  I  found  this 
explanation  upon  any  thing  else  than  an  explanation  of 
material  substance.     What  is  matter  ? 

Here  I  ask  a  question  which  has  employed  the  strongest 
thinkers  for  thousands  of  years,  or  since  the  beginning  of 
philosophical  inquiry.  The  effort  to  answer  it  in  the  brief 
space  which  can  be  given  to  it  in  a  work  like  this,  must,  it 
would  seem,  be  futile.     I  shall  however  attempt  this  answer. 

The  question,  what  is  matter  ?  may  be  answered  in  either 
of  two  ways.  One  way  is,  —  it  is  that  tree,  that  rock,  those 
clouds,  and  hUls,  the  sun  and  moon,  and  the  distant  stars,  and 
my  own  body.  But  how  do  you  know  that  they  are  what 
they  seem  ?  Because  I  see  them,  and  hear  them  if  they  are 
audible,  and  feel  them  if  they  are  near.  And  I  know  this 
more  certainly  than  I  know  anything  else. 

This  is  the  answer  of  plain  common  sense.  It  is  sound 
and  it  is  true.     It  is  perfectly  true.     And  when  we  get  into 


136  WHAT  IS  MATTER? 

the  spiritual  world  the  same  question  may  be  asked  there, 
and  answered  in  the  same  way,  and  the  answer  will  be  just 
as  true  there  as  it  is  here.  And  if  we  attempt  to  go  farther, 
and  get  a  deeper  insight  into  the  nature  of  matter,  let  us  be 
careful  not  to  lose  what  common  sense  gives  us.  Here  in- 
deed is  the  test.  If  the  result  of  our  inquiries  is  to  throw  a 
hazy  uncertainty  over  these  conclusions  of  common  sense,  we 
may  be  sure  that  these  inquiries  have  led  us  astray.  Let  us 
see  if  we  can  go  farther,  and  understand  something  more  of 
the  nature  of  the  world  we  live  in,  without  obscuring  our 
sense  of  its  reality. 

When  I  see  that  tree,  what  is  it  that  I,  the  thinking  being, 
see?  It  is  certain  that  I  see  only  a  small  picture  painted  on 
the  back  part  of  my  eye,  —  the  retina, — just  as  the  same 
picture  is  painted  on  the  glass  of  a  photographic  camera  if  it 
be  turned  towards  the  tree.  And  it  is  painted  on  the  retina 
by  means  of  lenses  formed  of  perfectly  transparent  fluids,  and 
shaped  to  effect  this  object  just  like  the  glass  lenses  in  the 
camera.  Why  then  do  I  think  I  see  a  tree  at  that  distance 
and  of  that  size  ?  Because  of  my  experience ;  but  what 
does  this  mean  ?  One  born  blind,  whose  eyes  are  couched 
and  so  opened  in  adult  life,  has  not,  at  first,  the  least  idea 
from  sight  of  relative  distance  or  size.  But  he  soon  acquires 
it.  The  babe  has  it  not  until  he  acquires  it;  the  moon  is 
as  near  to  him  as  the  lamp.  But  he  grows  wiser  by  experi- 
ence. And  what  is  this  experience  ?  That  of  the  other 
senses,  and  especially,  touch.  He  touches  what  he  can 
Presently  he  sees  persons  come  to  him  and  things  brought  to 
him.  Then  he  walks,  and  touches  the  floor  or  ground  with 
his  feet;  and  some  idea  of  time  and  space  and  size  and  dis- 
tance come  to  him ;  and  all  these  ideas  ripen  in  his  mind,  and 
are  comjiared  together,  and  from  them  comes  the  idea  of 
relative  distance,  size,  and  place. 

All  this  is  obvious  and  has  always  been  known ;  hence  all 
philosophy  has  agreed  that  all  we  know  of  matter,  or  can 


THE  EXTERNAL   WORLD  REAL  HERE.        137 

know  of  it,  is,  that  it  affects  us  in  a  certain  way ;  that  it  has, 
or  is,  the  power  so  to  affect  us  ;  that  it  is  this  pojver,  or  force, 
which  acting  through  our  organs  of  sense,  causes  certain 
states  of  minds,  sensations,  or  thoughts.  "  Matter,"  says 
Mill,  the  last  philosopher  who  has  undertaken  to  define  it,  "  is 
the  capacity  to  produce  sensations." 

But  some  philosophers  have  gone  farther.  Because  the 
ideas  of  distance,  size  and  place,  or  of  color,  hardness  or 
softness,  are  all  in  the  mind  and  nowhere  else,  and  because 
the  mind  sees  only  its  own  ideas,  some  have  doubted,  and 
some  have  denied  that  the  external  world  has  any  existence 
whatever.  Here  is  just  the  falsity  to  beware  of;  and  while 
it  is  possible  for  this  falsity  to  obscure  our  perceptions,  it  can 
never  do  more ;  it  can  never  supplant  the  truth ;  for  that 
truth  is  fastened  upon  us,  and  no  man  ever  yet  really  doubted 
the  existence  of  an  external  world. 

Nevertheless  I  believe  this  external  world  consists  of 
power,  or  force,  only ;  here  using  the  word  force  in  the  sense 
in  which  it  is  now  commonly  used  by  writers  on  this  subject. 
I  say  there  is  out  of  us,  and  not  a  part  of  myself,  force ; 
and  it  exerts  such  a  power  over  and  upon  our  minds  through 
our  senses,  that  it  produces  the  ideas,  impressions  and  sensa- 
tions we  are  conscious  of.  And  all  that  we  can  know  of 
outer  things,  by  sensation,  is  that  they  produce  those  sensa- 
tions. 

I  go  one  step  farther.  This  force  is  Divine  Force ;  for 
God  is  the  only  origin  of  force  and  everything  else.  It  is  by 
the  putting  forth  of  this  force  in  this  way,  that  the  universe 
of  dead  things  and  of  living  things  is  created  and  kept  in 
being.  This  divine  power  coming  down  from  its  infinite 
origin,  creates  from  itself  forms  or  modes  of  being  through 
which  it  acts  upon  us  in  a  certain  way.  And  these  forms  or 
modes  of  being  are  most  true  and  real  existences,  constituting 
a  true  and  real  external  world,  which  stands  in  a  certain  rela- 
tion to  our  senses,  and  through  our  senses,  to  us. 


138     THE  EXTERNAL  WORLD  REAL  HEREAFTER. 

Thus  far  I  have  said  nothing  that  is  new.  For  a  part  of 
it  I  can  find 'authority  in  all  works  of  philosophy;  for  much 
of  it  in  many  works  ;  for  all  of  it  in  some.  But  now,  I  must 
say  an  entirely  new  thing.     It  is  this. 

The  same  force  which  thus  creates  for  us  while  we  are  in 
this  world,  bodies  in  which  we  may  live,  organs  of  sense  by 
which  we  may  perceive,  and  things  to  be  perceived,  performs 
a  precisely  similar  work  for  us  after  we  go  from  here,  and 
are  in  the  spiritual  world.  There  too  it  gives  us  bodies  in 
which  to  live,  organs  of  sense  by  which  we  may  perceive, 
and  things  to  be  perceived.  There  too  these  things  consti- 
tute as  they  do  here,  a  most  true  and  real  external  world, 
which  stands  in  a  relation  to  our  senses,  and  through  our 
senses  to  us,  that  is  in  many  respects  similar  to  the  relation  of 
the  external  world  to  our  senses,  while  we  live  here. 

All  who  believe,  or  even  hope,  that  we  live  after  death, 
must  believe  or  hope,  that  we  live  somehow.  And  then  too 
they  must  believe  that  this  life  is  introductory  to  that,  and  in 
some  way  preparatory  for  that.  But  can  it  seem  to  any  one, 
probable,  that  the  life  to  which  we  are  thus  introduced  by 
this,  can  be  utterly  different  from  this ;  can  it  seem  rational 
to  suppose  that  we  can  be  taught,  trained  and  prepared  in  one 
world  for  the  other  world,  if  the  two  worlds  are  perfectly 
different  from  each  other  and  have  nothing  in  common  ?  Is 
it  not  more  probable  and  more  rational  to  suppose  that  infinite 
wisdom  would  teach  and  train  and  prepare  us  for  that  other 
world,  in  a  world  which  is  in  general  and  in  its  relation  to 
us,  similar  to  the  world  for  which  it  is  preparatory  ?  For  it 
is  He  who  creates  both  worlds ;  the  one  for  the  other. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  this  world  is  only  introductory  to 
that.  It  is  for  a  very  brief  time ;  that  is  for  eternity ;  this 
is  for  preparation,  and  that  for  result.  Should  we  not  con- 
clude that  we  may  expect  to  find  that  world  so  far  like  this, 
that  our  preparation  here  and  our  whole  habit  of  being 
would  not  be  wasted  and  pass  into  nothingness,  and  yet  that 


SPACE  AND   TIME.  139 

the  other  world  would  differ  from  this  so  far  as  its  difference 
in  purpose  would  require.  And  that  is  precisely  what  Swe- 
denborg  tells  us.  That  world  is  like  this  in  general,  and  in 
its  adaptation  to  our  nature  and  our  needs ;  but  with  impor- 
tant differences. 

To  treat  of  these  differences  as  intelligibly  as  I  may  and 
as  briefly  as  I  must,  I  begin  with  considering  Space  and 
Time ;  for  on  them  these  differences  are  mainly  founded. 

The  ideas  of  space  and  time  are  in  every  human  mind. 
But  it  is  conceded  by  all  philosophers  that  space  and  time 
do  not  exist  by  themselves  as  independent  finite  entities, 
or  things.  They  have  been  called  laws  of  thought,  or  condi- 
tions of  thought,  or  necessities  of  thought.  We  measure 
things  of  sight  and  touch  by  them  and  cannot  help  doing  so. 

Moreover  we  measure  each  of  them  by  the  other.  Our 
only  primary  measure  of  space  is  the  quantity  thereof  which 
a  thing  moves  over  in  a  certain  time  when  going  at  a  certain 
rate.  Our  only  primary  measure  of  time  is  the  quantity 
thereof  which  a  thing  occupies  when  moving  over  a  certain 
space  at  a  certain  rate.  From  these  primary  measures  we 
derive  the  subordinate  measures  of  space  and  time  in  common 
use. 

If  they  measure  each  other,  that  is  if  space  be  the  only 
measure  of  time  and  time  be  the  only  measure  of  space,  it 
follows  necessarily,  that  whatever  affects  the  one,  affects  the 
other. 

In  this  world  we  have  a  permanent  and  constant  standard 
in  that  revolution  of  the  earth,  which  causes  the  apparent 
revolution  of  the  sun,  and  through  this  causes  days  which  are 
capable  of  exact  measurement,  and  of  precise  division  into 
hours  and  parts  of  hours.  In  the  spiritual  world  there  is  no 
such  revolution.  What  should  we  do  or  be  here,  as  to  time, 
without  the  motion  of  the  sun,  or  without  definite  days  and 
hours,  uniformly  measured  for  all  men  alike  ?  But  there,  they 
have  no  such  measure.     They  have  seasons,  day  and  night, 


140  CBEATION. 

cold  and  heat,  darkness  and  light ;  but  they  are  neither  caused 
nor  measured  there  as  they  are  here.  I  must  not  let  this 
topic  carry  me  too  far.  I  may  say  however,  that  as  it  is  day 
on  any  spot  of  earth,  when  that  is  turned  towards  the  sun, 
and  night  when  that  is  turned  from  the  sun,  it  is  day  for  those 
in  the  spiritual  world  when  they  are  turned  towards  the  Lord, 
and  night  when  they  are  turned  from  Him.  And  with  aU 
who  are  there,  these  states,  in  some  form  or  other  alternate. 

But  to  return.  Because  there  is  not  there  the  measured 
revolution  of  the  earth,  constant  and  alike  to  all  men,  it  is 
manifest  that  time  must  be  a  very  different  thing  there  from 
time  here  ;  and  if  time  is  different,  space  and  place  which  are 
measured  by  time,  must  be  equally  different. 

And  now  let  us  remember  that  the  outside  world  is  created, 
there  and  here,  through  the  inside  world,  and  in  correspond- 
ence with  it ;  or  all  things  external  to  us  are  created  through 
the  thoughts  and  affections  within  us.  The  creative  power, 
issuing  from  its  infinite  source,  reaches  the  spiritual  world, 
and  there  creates  the  spirits  of  those  .who  are  there,  and 
through  them  creates  the  spiritual  external  world.  It  comes 
down  to  the  earths,  and  in  each  of  them  creates  the  spirits  of 
those  who  dwell  there  and  through  them  their  external  world. 
And  in  every  earth,  before  human  beings  lived  upon  it,  this 
creative  power  by  influx  through  the  spiritual  world  guided 
and  controlled  by  infinite  wisdom,  gradually  created  the  earth 
and  all  things  on  it  and  formed  it  into  a  fitting  habitation  for 
human  beings. 

In  both  worlds,  all  the  externals  thus  created  by  and 
through  internals  correspond  to  the  internals.  But  in  this 
woild  the  outer  world  is  but  the  common  resultant,  so  to  speak, 
of  correspondence  with  all  who  are  upon  it,  in  all  ages.  Here 
men  of  all  descriptions  are  mingled  together,  and  the  pur- 
poses for  which  we  live  require  that  it  should  be  so.  There 
is  a  distinction  into  races,  nations,  tribes,  which  occupy  dis- 
tinct locations,  and  there  may  be  something  of  specific  corres- 


CONSOCIATION.  141 

pondence.  But  in  general,  the  whole  earth  corresponds  to 
the  whole  of  mankind ;  and  in  its  several  parts  down  to  the 
minutest,  it  corresponds  to  the  several  elements  which  con- 
stitute the  general  mass  of  human  nature  and  character. 

Not  so  is  it  in  the  spiritual  world.  There,  the  necessity  of 
a  consociation  of  al^'  persons  of  all  kinds  has  no  existence. 
The  laws  of  affinity  come  into  operation.  The  good  gather 
to  the  good,  and  the  good  of  each  kind  to  the  good  of  like 
kind  ;  and  so  it  is  with  the  evil.  Hence  the  correspondence 
is  there  individual  and  specific.  Each  society  consisting  of 
those  who  resemble  each  other  in  general,  the  region  which 
all  inhabit  and  the  things  all  contemplate,  are  the  same  for 
all ;  while  those  things  which  belong  more  specifically  to  each 
individual  are  in  more  specific  and  exact  correspondence  with 
him.  Hence  every  one  there  sees  in  his  habitation,  and  in 
every  thing  which  his  eye  looks  on,  that  which  is  a  more 
or  less  exact  mirror  of  his  thoughts  and  his  affections.  Here, 
one  sees  that  which  is  a  mirror  of  the  thoughts  and  affections 
which  belong  to  humanity. 

So  too,  as  the  purposes  for  which  we  live  require  here  this 
mingling  of  all  and  therefore  this  general  correspondence,  the 
same  purposes  require  that  the  whole  external  world  and 
space  and  time  by  which  it  is  measured,  should  be  indurated 
as  it  were  and  fixed  in  hard,  unyielding  material,  over  which 
we  have  little  power,  and  which  may  re-act  against  our  efforts 
and  to  a  large  extent  control  us.  For  we  live  here  for  effort, 
conflict,  and  change  for  better  or  for  worse  through  conflict. 
Hence  this  external  world  is  not  yielding  to  our  thoughts 
and  affections  as  individuals  and  does  not  change  with  them. 
When  we  die,  all  this  ceases.  Conflict  terminates,  for  as  the 
tree  falls  it  lies.  Now,  not  only  is  the  general  consociation 
separated  by  the  working  of  affinities,  so  that  the  correspond- 
ence of  the  external  with  the  internal  may  become  individual 
and  specific,  but  this  correspondence  is  always  exact,  and 
externals  change  as  internals  change.     Space  and  time  are 


142  AFFINITY. 

there ;  but  they  are  no  longer  laws  of  thought,  controlling 
thought  and  affection ;  they  are  now  only  instruments  of 
thought,  and  thought  and  affection  control  them. 

For  example,  here  a  man  may  love  one  at  the  distance  of 
many  miles,  and  ardently  desire  to  be  with  the  loved  one. 
But  he  cannot  be  with  the  object  of  his^ve,  except  by  pass- 
ing over  the  separating  distance,  step  by  step.  There,  in 
that  world  of  order  and  affinity,  if  one  so  loves  another,  that 
other  will  so  love  him.  Their  desire  to  be  together  will  be 
mutual.  And  this  desire  extinguishes  the  space  between 
them  and  brings  them  together. 

There  is  yet  another  difference  between  this  world  and  the 
spiritual  world.  We  know  that  in  this  world,  things  appear 
very  differently  to  different  persons.  We  have  in  this  a  dim 
intimation  of  what  we  shall  have  in  its  fulness  in  the  other 
world.  There,  things  change  their  aspect  utterly,  when  they 
are  looked  at  by  those  who  are  in  a  distinctly  different  state 
of  thought  and  affection.  They  who  have  gone  down,  are 
surrounded  by  externals  which  for  them  may  be  invested 
with  every  charm.  But  let  an  angel  look  on  them,  let  his 
light,  the  light  of  heaven,  fall  on  them,  and  they  lose  all  beauty 
and  become  but  a  wasted  wilderness.  So  it  is  with  all  the 
objects  of  all  the  senses.  So  it  is  with  the  persons  themselves. 
For  while  the  lost  seem  to  each  other  men  and  women,  and 
may  be  beautiful  and  attractive  to  each  other,  to  the  angel 
they  seem  hideous  and  deformed ;  and  so  Swedenborg  who 
saw  them  in  the  light  of  truth  and  of  heaven,  usually  de- 
scribes them. 

Scientific  men  are  now  agreed  that  from  our  sun  come  all 
the  sustaining  and  controlling  forces  that  preserve  our  earth 
and  make  it  habitable  for  men.  More  than  this  I  believe  to 
be  true.  Science  has  but  to  advance  in  the  path  it  is  now 
pursuing,  to  reach  the  conclusion,  that  the  same  forces  which 
preserve  the  earth  created  and  formed  it,  and  when  science 
becomes  relijrious  it  will  see  in  the  suns  the  central  instruments 


TEE   SPIRITUAL  SUN.  143 

of  the  divine  work  of  creation.  And  here  too  the  law  of 
correspondence  prevails.  There  is  a  sun  in  the  spiritual 
world ;  a  spiritual  sun.  It  is  not  the  Lord ;  but  it  is  "  the 
first  proceeding"  (I  use  the  phrase  of  Swedenborg)  from 
the  Lord.  And  He  is  in  it ;  in  it  by  His  Love,  which  radiates 
from  it  as  heat ;  in  i^^  by  His  Wisdom,  which  radiates  from  it 
as  light ;  in  it  by  His  Power,  which  goes  forth  from  it  to 
create  and  preserve  the  spiritual  universe.  And  through  this 
spiritual  Sun  the  Divine  Proceeding  goes  forth  and  lower 
down  and  creates  our  sun,  and  through  it  the  material 
universe. 

The  angels  do  not  worship  their  sun.  They  know  it  is 
not  the  Lord ;  but  they  know  that  it  is  His  Effluence.  The 
heat  that  comes  from  it  to  them  is  heat ;  but  when  it  animates 
and  cheers  them  most,  they  most  rejoice  in  the  certainty  that 
it  is  the  clothing  and  instrument  of  His  Love.  The  light 
that  comes  from  it  to  them  is  light ;  but  when  it  fills  their 
universe  with  brightness  and  with  glory,  it  is  yet  more  glori- 
ous in  their  thoughts,  for  they  perceive  it  to  be  the  clothing 
and  the  instrument  of  His  Wisdom. 

Love  and  Wisdom,  distinct  but  One  in  perfect  conjunction, 
constitute  the  Divine.  In  man  that  distinctness  remains,  and 
that  conjunction  is  never  perfect.  I  shall  presently  speak  of 
the  classification  of  spirits  by  the  prevalence  in  them  of  love 
over  wisdom,  of  affection  over  thought,  on  the  one  hand,  — 
and  on  the  other,  the  prevalence  of  wisdom  over  love,  of 
thought  over  affection.  I  advert  to  it  now,  to  say,  that  to 
those  of  the  first  class,  the  light  of  their  sun  seems  glowing 
with  heat ;  to  those  of  the  second  class,  the  sun  is  rather  as 
the  moon,  in  which  light  predominates  over  heat. 

The  aspect  of  the  spiritual  sun  and  its  place  in  the  sky 
which  bends  all-embracing  over  men  there  as  over  men  here, 
are  determined  by  the  relations  of  those  on  whom  it  shines, 
to  the  Lord.  What  He  is  to  them,  and  where  He  is  in  their 
thoughts  and  affections,  that  their  sun  seems  to  them,  and 
there  it  is  in  their  sight. 


144      THE  REALITY  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  WORLD. 

Thus  far  I  have  been  speaking  mainly  of  the  ultimate  con- 
dition of  those  who  pass  from  this  world  into  that.  But 
there  is  an  introductory  and  preparatory  condition  even  there. 
It  is  not  one  in  which  the  ruling  elements  of  the  character 
may  be  changed  as  on  earth,  but  one  in  which  these  ruling 
elements  may  be  developed,  liberated  from  all  opposing  ten- 
dencies, with  all  disguises  cast  away.  But  of  this  I  shall  say 
more  presently. 

And  now  that  I  have  read  over  all  that  I  have  written  of 
this  spiritual  world,  I  am  painfully  aware  how  imperfect  my 
conceptions  are  and  how  inadequate  even  to  them  my  ex- 
pressions are.  To  some  extent  it  must  be  so  while  we  live 
here,  in  the  space  and  time  of  this  world.  It  is  necessary, 
most  necessary,  that  this  world  should  be  to  us,  as  it  is  in 
fact,  a  most  real  and  actual  world,  and  whatever  brings  over 
it  a  dreaminess  or  uncertainty  cannot  but  do  us  damage. 
And  for  that  reason  it  must  be  difficult  for  all,  impossible  for 
many,  to  form  a  perfectly  distinct  conception  in  all  its  details 
of  that  other  world,  for  the  contrast  with  the  world  we  live 
in,  might  so  far  lessen  the  hold  of  this  world  upon  us  and  our 
hold  on  it,  as  to  prevent  us  from  walking  through  it,  stead- 
fastly and  earnestly,  doing  our  duty  with  all  our  heart,  at 
every  step. 

Let  me  say  one  thing  which  I  know  that  I  am  safe  in 
saying  to  all.  Be  always  fixed  and  firm  in  the  certain  belief 
that  while  you  live  here  you  live  in  a  most  actual  world 
precisely  adapted  to  you,  to  your  capacities,  mental  and 
physical,  and  to  all  your  needs ;  for  this  is  the  truth.  And 
be  equally  fixed  and  firm  in  the  certain  belief  that  when  you 
die  you  will  rise  into  another  most  actual  external  world 
precisely  adapted  to  you,  to  your  capacities,  mental  and 
physical,  and  to  all  your  needs ;  for  this  too  is  the  truth. 

Swedenborg  divides  the  whole  spiritual  world  into  three 
great  divisions ;  Heaven ;  Hell ;  and  the  World  of  Spirits. 


HEAVEN.  1-45 

Of  these  words  and  of  others  which  he  uses  in  treating  of 
these  topics,  he  speaks  in  a  way  which  shows  that  he  felt 
their  inadequacy.  But  he  used  the  best  words  he  could  find, 
and  our  words  are  translations  of  his  words. 


OP   HEAVEN. 

Heaven  is  One ;  for  it  is  Love ;  and  wherever  love  reigns 
there  is  heaven ;  or  He  in  whom  love  reigns,  is  in  heaven,  or 
heaven  is  in  Him.  The  reason  is,  that  God  is  Love ;  that 
all  life  is  from  Him,  put  forth  by  Him  in  creation  that  He 
may  have  creatures  to  make  happy.  He  can  make  happy, 
only  by  giving  that  which  makes  Him  happy  ;  and  that  is 
Love.  He  therefore  makes  beings  to  whom  He  can  impart 
His  own  Love  in  such  wise  that  it  shall  become  their  love. 
And  they  who  receive  it  and  make  it  their  own  by  voluntary 
appropriation,  are  happy ;  that  is,  are  in  Heaven ;  and  taken 
altogether  constitute  Heaven. 

But  men  differ  from  each  other;  they  differ  in  the  re- 
ception of  His  life.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  this  great 
difference ;  that  while  all  receive  it  or  they  could  not  have 
life,  some  receive  it  and  appropriate  it  or  make  it  their  own 
without  perversion,  and  this  is  Heaven ;  and  some  receive  it 
and  appropriate  it  or  make  it  their  own  through  or  by  per 
version  ;  and  this  is  Hell. 

Besides  this  great  difference  however  there  are  differences 
among  those  who  receive  it  without  perversion,  and  among 
those  who  receive  it  by  perversion.  No  two,  indeed,  of 
either  class,  are  entirely  alike.  But  all  these  differences  are 
capable  of  orderly  classification,  and  those  who  receive  life 
in  a  right  way  or  in  a  wrong  way,  those  who  are  in  heaven 
and  those  who  are  in  hell,  are  all  arranged  in  consociations 
according  to  these  differences. 

Thus,  the  love  that  prevails  in  heaven,  is  of  two  kinds ;  one 
is  the  Love  of  God  himself;  the  other  is  the  love  of  the^ 

10 


146  THE  HEAVENLY  HEAVEN. 

neighbor ;  or  one  is  love  towards  the  Lord  as  the  Father  and 
benefactor  of  all,  and  the  other  is  a  love  for  one's  brethren 
and  neighbors. 

Then,  it  is  to  be  noticed,  that  the  love  of  the  neighbor  is 
not  good  and  heavenly,  unless  love  to  the  Lord  is  in  it ;  un- 
less our  neighbors  and  brethren  are  loved  because  they  are 
all  the  children  of  our  Father  and  therefore  our  brethren. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  merely  natural  love  of  the  neigh- 
bor, resting  only  on  natural  kindness.  This  may  have  the 
aspect  of  entire  benevolence.  But  it  is  only  one  of  the  many 
natural  feelings.  There  are  others,  such  as  love  of  ease,  of 
wealth,  of  luxury,  of  honor,  and  the  like.  No  person,  prob- 
ably, is  ever  wholly  devoid  of  kindness ;  no  one  goes  through 
life  without  ever  doing  a  kindness ;  and  most  men  certainly 
are  willing  to  do  a  kindness  which  costs  them  nothing.  A 
natural  man  may  have  this  element  of  natural  kindness  so 
strong  in  him,  that  it  causes  him  to  be  kind,  unless  other 
natural  feelings  oppose  it  powerfully ;  but  when  they  do  so 
oppose  it,  this  kindness  must  fail.  For  no  kindness  can  sur- 
mount all  opposition,  and  no  benevolence  can  resist  effectually 
all  selfish  interests,  and  passions  and  desires,  unless  it  be  a 
spiritual  kindness ;  that  is  a  love  founded  upon  a  love  of 
God,  and  a  recognition  of  all  men  as  His  children. 

But  among  good  men  who  have  become  angels,  there 
are  those  in  whom  this  love  towards  the  Lord  is  both  pre- 
valent and  prominent;  it  is  the  manifest  law  of  their  lives 
and  the  life  of  their  lives.  They  constitute  the  highest 
heaven;  and  Swedenborg  calls  this,  "The  Heavenly  Heaven" 
(coelum  coeleste). 

Below  these  are  the  angels  of  a  lower  class.  In  them  too 
is  a  true  love  towards  the  Lord ;  and  this  love  is  in  them  the 
foundation  of  a  warm  and  earnest  charity,  or  love  for  the 
neighbor.  But  in  them  the  love  of  the  Lord  is  veiled,  and 
veiled  even  from  their  own  direct  and  constant  thought  and 
consciousness,  by  their  love  of  the  neighbor,  and  uses  this 


THE  SPIRITUAL  HEAVEN.  147 

love  of  the  neighbor  as  its  instrument  of  action.  They 
constitute  a  lower  heaven ;  to  which  Swedenborg  gives  the 
name  of  Spiritual  Heaven  (coelum  spirituale).  The  rela- 
tion of  the  heavenly  heaven  to  the  spiritual  heaven,  is  that 
of  Love  for  the  Lord  to  charity  towards  the  neighbor ; 
it  is  that  of  Love  to  Wisdom ;  it  is  that  of  the  Will  or  all 
that  is  affectional,  to  the  Understanding  or  all  that  is  intel- 
lectual. For  the  charity  of  the  spiritual  heaven  is  founded 
on,  sustained  by,  and  fed  by,  a  constant  recognition  of  truth 
and  justice  in  all  relations  with  the  neighbor. 

But  there  are  yet  those  who  are  good,  and  because  good 
are  angels  and  in  heaven,  but  who  stand  on  a  yet  lower  plane. 
They  are  good  on  the  principle  of  obedience.  But  it  is  plain 
that  only  so  far  as  a  love  of  God  is  within  this,  and  only  so 
far  as  a  love  of  the  neighbor  is  within  it,  can  this  obedience 
be  cheerful,  spontaneous,  glad  and  heavenly.  This  lowest 
heaven  is  called  "The  Natural  Heaven"  (coelum  naturale). 

They  who  are  in  the  highest  heaven,  or  the  Heavenly 
angels,  are  governed  only  by  love,  and  are  taught  only  by 
love.  And  while  this  love  is  primarily  the  love  of  God,  and 
is  seen,  known  and  felt  as  such,  it  seeks  perpetually  the  good 
of  the  neighbor,  and  loves  the  neighbor  as  a  brother  and  as 
the  child  of  that  Father  whom  it  loves  supremely.  Their 
thoughts  are  wholly  dependent  on  their  affections.  If  any 
act  or  any  truth  is  presented  to  their  wisdom,  they  see  its 
quality  at  once.  They  see  it  by  the  light  of  that  wisdom 
which  is  of  love.  But  the  spiritual  angels  inquire  after 
truth,  search  into  it,  and  are  led  by  it.  They  have  wisdom, 
a  wisdom  which  is  by  us  ineffable  and  inconceivable ;  and  this 
wisdom  guides  and  governs  their  love.  The  heavenly  angels 
are,  in  a  wide  sense,  affectional,  and  because  so,  are  supremely 
wise ;  while  the  spiritual  angels  are  intellectual. 

This  leads  us  to  another  distinction  which  runs  through  all 
the  heavens ;  for  says  Swedenborg,  all  heaven  and  every 
heaven  is   divided  into  two  kingdoms;   the  heavenly  kuig- 


148  HEAVENLY  AND   SPIRITUAL. 

dom  and  the  spiritual  kingdom.  And  here  he  uses  the  words 
in  almost  the  same  sense  as  affectional  and  intellectual.  So 
is  every  society  in  every  heaven  ;  and  so  is  every  man  in 
every  society.  For  marriage,  spiritual  marriage  is  there,  and 
is  the  centre,  the  foundation,  the  spring  of  all  happiness,  as 
true  marriage  is  everywhere.  Husband  and  wife  are  one. 
.And  while  the  husband  has  both  intellect  and  affection  and 
the  wife  has  both  intellect  and  affection,  the  husband  is  pre- 
dominantly intellectual  and  the  wife  affectional. 

I  use  the  word  "affectional"  to  translate  Swedenborg's 
Latin  word  " voluntarius,"  which  is  derived  from  "volun- 
tas "  the  will,  and  means  of  or  belonging  to  the  will.  We 
have  in  English  no  substantive  and  adjective  which  stand  in 
the  relation  of  "  voluntas  "  and  "  voluntarius."  Our  English 
translations  of  Swedenborg  generally  use  the  word  "volun- 
tary "  to  translate  "  voluntarius " ;  and  it  may  be,  or  may 
become  by  this  use  of  it,  the  better  word.  But  I  employ  the 
word  "  affectional,"  thinking  it  more  likely  to  convey  the  right 
meaning  of  the  Latin  word. 

Li  every  heaven  there  are  innumerable  societies,  the  larger 
formed  of  smaller,  down  to  the  smallest.  How  are  they  all 
arranged ;  and  how  are  all  the  individuals  in  every  society, 
arranged  ? 

To  answer  this  question,  I  must  refer  to  a  doctrine  taught 
by  Swedenborg,  which  is  perfectly  new.  It  is  the  doctrine 
of  the  Human  Form.  It  asserts  that  this  Form  is  the  stand- 
ard of  all  order ;  is  an  expression  of  the  order  towards 
which  all  true  order  tends ;  for  all  order  is  primarily  Divine 
order,  and  God  is  a  divine,  infinite,  perfect  man,  and  man  is 
man  because  God  made  him  in  His  own  image  and  likeness. 
And  yet  I  ought  not  to  call  this  entirely  new,  excepting 
as  it  is  new  in  the  sense  in  which  Swedenborg  states  it, 
and  the  degree  to  which  he  carries  it.  For  it  was  a  very 
ancient  doctrine,  that  man  is  a  "  microcosm,"  a  little  world, 
and  a  type  of  the  "  macrocosm,"  or  universe.     And  in  all 


THE  HUMAN  FORM.  149 

ages  and  languages  some  recognition  of  this  is  manifest. 
What  society  is  there,  of  which  we  might  not  say  that  this 
person  is  the  head  of  it ;  that  others  are  the  heart  of  it,  and 
others  are  its  hands  ?  Now  all  this  is  but  a  coming  to  the 
surface  of  a  most  exact  and  universal  truth.  In  any  orderly 
and  well-arranged  society,  if  it  have  members  enough,  and 
each  of  them  labors  in  his  own  way  so  to  work  that  the 
proper  work  of  the  whole  society  may  go  forward,  and  the 
work  of  each  man,  while  entirely  his  own,  is  in  such  refer- 
ence to  that  of  every  other,  that  all  their  work  becomes  one 
work,  and  that  is  the  work  of  the  society,  —  in  such  a  society 
it  will  be  found  that  the  work  of  the  different  members  bears 
a  correspondence  to  the  different  functions  of  the  different 
parts  of  the  human  body.  And  in  heaven  this  order  is  com- 
plete and  perfect. 

Hence  Swedenborg,  when  speaking  of  the  employments  or 
the  character  of  certain  angels,  often  illustrates  this,  by  say- 
ing that  they  are  in  the  head,  or  the  heart,  or  the  lungs,  or 
the  limbs,  or  other  members  of  the  body. 

Let  me  use  this  same  correspondence  to  illustrate  what  has 
been  said  of  the  heavenly  heaven,  of  the  spiritual  heaven, 
and  of  the  natural  heaven. 

Taking  the  man  as  a  whole,  the  head  corresponds  to  the 
heavenly  heaven,  the  chest  or  trunk  to  the  spiritual  heaven, 
the  limbs  to  the  natural  heaven.  Then  again  in  the  head, 
the  cerebellum  corresponds  to  the  heavenly  (or  affectional) 
and  the  cerebrum  to  the  spiritual  (or  intellectual)  ;  or,  I 
may  say,  the  cerebellum  to  good  and  the  cerebrum  to  truth. 
Then  of  both  of  these,  the  right  lobes  correspond  to  good, 
and  the  left  to  truth.  Then  in  the  chest,  which  as  a 
whole  corresponds  to  the  intellectual,  the  heart  corres- 
ponds to  good,  and  in  it  the  right  auricle  and  ventricle  to 
good  and  the  left  to  truth ;  and  the  lungs  as  a  whole  to  truth, 
while  the  right  lobe  corresponds  to  good  and  the  left  to 
truth.     And  when  we  come  to  the  limbs,  we  find  right  and 


150  EMPLOYMENTS  IN  HEAVEN. 

left  there  with  the  same  signification.  For  everywhere,  and 
in  every  thing,  something  of  good  and  something  of  truth, 
something  which  bears  some  relation  to  the  afFectional  and 
something  which  bears  some  relation  to  the  intellectual,  must 
meet,  or  it  cannot  exist. 

Then  too  we  say  the  brain,  in  its  general  correspond- 
ence to  the  heavenly  heaven,  extends  itself  by  the  spinal 
marrow  and  the  nerves  into  every  part  of  the  frame,  and 
where  it  does  not  go  there  is  no  life.  The  brain,  by  its 
nerves,  goes  to  heart  and  lungs ;  it  is  not  seen  there,  they  are 
not  brains,  they  are  heart  and  lungs,  but  it  gives  them  their 
life  and  motion  and  the  power  to  perform  their  functions. 
Then,  in  the  heart  and  lungs,  in  their  operation,  it  got-a 
wherever  the  heart  and  lungs  go,  by  the  blood  sent  to  every 
part,  and  by  the  purification  of  that  blood  through  respira- 
tion. And  if  we  remember  that  thus  it  is  the  brain  which 
going  everywhere  and  acting  everywhere  causes  life  every- 
where in  all  its  various  forms,  and  remember  that  the  head 
in  the  human  form  corresponds  to  the  highest  heaven,  we 
may  understand  why  Swedenborg  calls  the  highest  heaven 
the  heavenly  heaven ;  for  it  is  this,  this  Love  of  the  Lord, 
this  heaven  of  which  this  love  is  the  life,  which  by  its  de- 
scending and  life-bearing  influence,  constitutes  heaven  in  all 
which  receives  this  influence,  under  any  form  whatever. 

Of  the  employments  and  occupations  in  heaven,  I  can  say 
but  little.  Lideed  I  do  not  suppose  I  could  be  made  to  un- 
derstand them  in  their  fulness,  any  better  than  an  Australian 
savage  could  be  made  to  understand  the  actual  details  of  life 
in  a  civilized  community.  We  have  some  help  from  the 
doctrine  above  referred  to,  that  of  the  Human  Form.  Heaven, 
in  the  sight  of  the  Infinite,  is  as  one  man ;  one  greatest  man, 
or  as  Swedenborg  terms  it,  "  Maximus  Homo."  And  every 
angel  has  his  place  in  that  body ;  his  own  place,  which  is  not 
that  of  any  other  \  and  his  own  work,  which  is  not  that  of 


HELL.  151 

any  other ;  while  all  unite  and  assist  each  other ;  all  recog- 
nize each  the  other  in  his  place  and  work ;  and  every  one 
knows  that  all  the  others  are  the  better  for  his  work,  and 
they  know  it  and  are  glad  to  know  it. 

There  is  however  one  great  principle  which  we  can  all  com- 
prehend. Because  God  is  Love,  He  has.  He  is,  the  eternal 
desire  to  do  good  and  to  make  happy.  And  they  who  re- 
ceive His  life  into  themselves  and  make  it  their  life  without 
perversion,  must  have  the  same  desire.  Hence  Swedenborg 
says  all  Heaven  is  one  kingdom  of  uses.  What  the  divine 
love  is  we  may  see  in  the  fact  that  it  causes  eternal,  infinite, 
constant  creation,  and  sustains  all  the  infinitude  of  life  in  the 
universe.  And  when  this  divine  love  enters  into  a  human 
will,  and  is  received  there  without  perversion,  it  becomes  the 
love  of  usefulness.  Every  angel  desires  to  be  useful ;  is  use- 
ful ;  and  finds  his  happiness  in  being  useful.  We  prepare 
ourselves  to  become  heavenly,  by  loving  to  be  useful  to  others. 
And  it  is  so  difficult  to  have  this  love,  and  so  few  have  it, 
that  the  divine  mercy  trains  us  against  our  will,  by  subject- 
ing almost  all  men  to  the  necessity  of  work,  of  work  for 
others,  of  compulsory  usefulness.  Thus  He  may  enforce  in 
us  the  habit  of  usefulness ;  but  He  uses  no  compulsion  to 
give  us  the  love  of  usefulness.  That  we  must  acquire  by 
our  own  free  co-operation  with  his  effort  to  impart  it. 

It  is  a  saying  of  one  who  had  great  worldly  wisdom,  that 
no  man  works  except  in  the  hope  of  resting.  But  in  heaven 
no  angel  rests,  or  desires  to  rest,  except  in  the  hope  of  work- 
ing. 

OF    HELL. 

"The  way  of  the  wicked  He  turneth  upside  down,"  says 
the  Psalmist ;  and  hell  is  the  reverse  of  heaven. 

It  is  as  a  man,  but  as  a  deformed  man ;  and  so  is  every 
society  in  hell,  and  every  man  in  hell. 

But  God  is  there  also.    "  K I  make  my  bed  in  hell,  behold 


152  THE  DIVINE   PURPOSE  EFFECTED. 

thou  art  there."  If  God  were  not  there,  nothing  would  be 
there ;  no  thmgs,  and  no  persons.  Because  He  is  there,  in- 
finite love  and  wisdom  are  there,  for  they  are  Him  ;  and  there 
is  nothing  in  Him  but  love  and  wisdom.  This  love  and  wis- 
dom and  the  power  they  put  forth,  there  as  everywhere,  re- 
spect and  preserve  the  freedom  of  the  man  as  far  as  the  good 
of  the  man  permits.  And  the  perpetual  effort  of  the  divine 
providence  in  hell  is  to  lessen  its  disorder,  and  the  disorder 
of  all  its  members. 

The  divine  purpose  may  therefore  be  said  to  be  the  same 
in  heaven  and  in  hell.  But  the  difference  is  this.  In  heaven 
this  purpose  is  effected  through  the  free  and  voluntary  choice 
and  co-operation  of  the  angels,  and  this  is  their  happiness. 
In  hell  it  cannot  be  so  effected ;  because  they  who  are  there 
love  and  have  chosen  opposition  to  the  divine  life,  and  brought 
their  own  life  into  permanent  and  organic  opposition  to  the 
divine  life.  Therefore  the  order  and  government  of  hell  are, 
of  necessity,  coercive  and  punitory.  The  object  is  not  to 
awaken  in  them  the  love  of  good,  for  that  is  now  impossible, 
but  to  bring  their  love  of  evil  into  such  subjection,  and 
to  impose  upon  its  exercise  and  operation  such  limits,  as 
shall  make  their  suffering  as  little  and  their  enjoyment  as 
much,  as  their  own  loves  render  possible.  This  is  the  purpose 
of  divine  providence  in  hell ;  it  is  the  purpose  of  perfect  love  ; 
and  it  is  pursued  with  perfect  wisdom  and  all  the  means 
of  unrestricted  power. 

Hence,  it  may  perhaps  be  said,  in  one  sense,  that  every 
devil  is  in  his  own  heaven.  He  is  in  that  condition  of  things, 
than  which  he  conceives  of  nothing  better,  desires  nothing 
better,  and  could  enjoy  nothing  better ;  for  if  he  could  he 
would  at  once  have  something  better. 

So  too  it  may  be  said,  in  one  sense,  that  every  devil  grows 
more  infernal  to  eternity ;  and  in  another,  that  he  may  be 
constantly  improving.  He  grows  more  infernal,  because  his 
ruling  love  of  evil,  which  is  his  essential  life,  must  be  in- 


EARTH  BETWEEN  HEAVEN  AND  HELL.      15-3 

dulged,  or  he  would  perish,  for  the  reason  that  he  has  no 
other  life.  But  he  may  grow  better  in  conduct,  because  the 
infinite  mercy  of  God  surrounds  him  with  those  restraints 
and  that  discipline,  which  infinite  wisdom  knows  to  be  best 
adapted  to  bring  his  external  life  into  external  order.  He 
is  never  punished  for  what  he  did  in  this  world.  But  as  the 
elements  of  character  he  formed  here  urge  him  beyond  per- 
mitted limits  there,  he  is  then  punished  with  whatever  circum- 
stances of  terror  or  severity  may  be  necessary  to  restrain 
him  within  those  limits. 

As  earth  and  life  on  earth  are  between  heaven  and  hell,  so 
we  may  easily  see  while  here,  and  indeed  every  man  may  see 
in  his  own  experience,  both  these  modes  of  divine  govern- 
ment. Whoever  has  felt  the  love  of  good  vivified  within 
him,  and  felt  also  that  this  love  was,  for  the  moment,  free, 
unimpeded  and  most  happy,  knows  how  God  governs  his 
angels ;  and  knows  how  little  of  the  sense  of  government  or 
coercion  there  is  in  it.  But  when  he  feels  that  God  is  pun- 
ishing and  repressing  the  infernal  things  within  him,  —  his 
love  of  self,  his  worldliness,  his  lusts,  —  then  he  may  know 
how  God  governs  the  hells.  This  government  is  perfect  and 
absolute,  and  guided  by  a  perfect  knowledge  of  what  the 
devils  are  and  what  will  best  conduce  to  establish  among 
them  the  best  order  possible.  It  may  be  therefore,  that 
this  external  order  of  hell,  and  the  external  enjoyments  made 
possible  by  it,  are  such  at  times,  that  they  shall  seem  to 
the  devils  perfect  and  consummate.  It  is  not  heavenly  order 
or  heavenly  happiness,  and  never  can  become  that;  but  it 
may  be  its  outward  imitation.  For  when  self-love  and  its 
enjoyment  are  not  in  opposition  to,  and  are  in  subservience 
to,  the  good  of  others,  they  are  more  or  less  good ;  and  in  hell 
this  subservience  is  enforced. 

But  the  fires  of  hell  are  never  quenched ;  for  the  fires 
of  hell  are  the  life-loves  of  those  who  are  there ;  and  if 
these  fires  were  quenched  they  must  perish.     They  are  pre- 


154  ETERNITY   OF  EELL. 

pared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels,  and  given  to  them,  not 
in  vengeance,  not  in  hatred,  but  in  compassion  and  in  love. 
They  are  given  to  them  not  that  they  may  be  wretched,  but 
that  they  may  have  all  the  enjoyment  which  they  have  left 
to  themselves  the  possibility  of  having.  They  are  never 
quenched ;  and  the  devils  cannot  be  reduced  to  a  true  or  to  a 
constant  order.  They  are  never  quenched ;  and  the  devil 
must  sometimes  shake  off,  or  strive  to  shake  off,  the  fetters 
which  he  then  feels  as  fetters  ;  and  then  comes  the  lesson  and 
the  pain.  So  long  as  the  serpent  lies  along  the  ground,  seek- 
ing only  his  own  enjoyment  but  harmless  to  others,  he  may 
not  be  disturbed ;  and  he  may,  if  he  will,  forget  the  poison 
which  he  ever  carries  with  him.  But  if  he  lifts  up  his  head, 
and  fain  would  strike  with  venomed  fang,  then  must  his  head 
be  bruised.  And  the  heel  of  divine  power,  its  last  and  lowest 
mode  of  action,  presses  his  head  again  to  the  ground.  This 
prophecy  in  Genesis  was  fulfilled  when  our  Lord  assumed 
the  very  lowest  ultimates  of  fallen  human  nature,  that  in 
them  and  through  them,  he  might  do  this  work  in  and  for  all 
men  ;  for  those  who  will  permit  it  to  be  done,  in  one  way,  but 
for  all  in  some  way. 

But  let  us  consider  this  subject  a  little  more  fully ;  for  the 
eternity  of  hell  is  and  has  always  been  to  many  minds  a 
doctrine  of  very  great  difficulty.  Heaven  has  been  regarded 
as  a  place  of  reward  ;  and  hell  as  a  place  of  punishment ;  and 
this  is  certainly  so  declared  in  the  literal  sense  of  Scripture. 
But  no  good  man  willingly  inflicts  pain  unless  in  the  hope  of 
thereby  producing  amendment.  And  eternal  punishment  is 
necessarily  ineffectual  as  to  internal  amendment,  because  other- 
wise it  would  render  itself  unnecessary  and  so  cease  to  be 
eternal.  To  impute  to  God  a  disposition  to  punish  where 
nothing  can  be  gained  by  punishment,  and  to  inflict  this 
punishment  infinitely  in  excess  of  all  possible  ill-desert  (for 
no  sin  in  tiine  can  bear  any  proportion  to  punishment  through 
eternity),  imparts  to  our  conception  of  the  divine  character, 
an  element  of  malignity. 


LIFE  ETERNAL.  155 

To  avoid  this  it  has  become  common  to  say  that  the  eter- 
nal suffering  of  the  hells  is  not  inflicted  by  way  of  punish- 
ment, but  is  the  necessary  consequence  of  character.  If 
however  the  idea  of  inevitable  and  etei'naJ  suffering  is  retained, 
not  much  is  gained  by  discarding  the  idea  of  punishment. 
And  one  of  the  points  wherein  the  doctrine  of  Swedenborg 
differs  from  all  that  have  preceded  it,  is,  its  retaining  the 
eternity  of  hell,  and  yet  discarding  both  the  ideas  of  infinite 
punishment  and  of  constant  suffering. 

In  the  Gospels  Life  and  Death  are  constantly  spoken  of 
and  referred  to  as  synonymous  with  Heaven  and  Hell. 
Spiritual  life,  eternal  life,  is  the  same  thing  as  heaven. 
Spiritual  death,  the  "  second  death "  is  the  same  thing  as 
hell.  Now  we  have  in  the  words  of  our  Lord,  a  perfect 
definition  of  eternal  life,  that  is,  of  heaven. 

"  This  is  life  eternal ;  that  they  might  know  Thee  the  only 
true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent." 

If,  to  know  God  and  Christ  whom  He  has  sent,  to  know 
them  truly  and  as  they  are,  be  eternal  life,  or  heaven,  then 
not  to  know  God  and  Christ  is  eternal  death,  or  hell.  This 
is  as  certain  as  that  Death  is  the  opposite  of  Life. 

We  have  then  a  definition  of  heaven  and  of  hell.  It  is  one 
which  is  perfectly  intelligible  in  itself,  and  for  which  the 
reasons  may  be  apprehended.  To  know  God  and  Jesus 
Christ  whom  He  has  sent,  is  to  know  that  from  which 
may  come  all  knowledge  that  affects  life,  character  and 
happiness.  For  so  far  as  one  knows  or  has  any  accu- 
rate apprehension  of  the  infinite  God  and  the  Divine  Hu- 
manity, he  has  this  apprehension  of  God  in  Himself,  and 
of  God  in  His  relations  with  man.  He  knows  that  fact 
and  those  relations,  from  which  flow  forth  all  the  actions  and 
influences  of  Providence,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end ;  all 
that  God  has  done,  or  does,  or  seeks  to  do,  in  creation,  and  in 
the  divine  dealings  with  man.  And  in  the  degree  in  which  he 
\inderstands  this,  be  that  degree  great  or  small,  high  or  low, 


156  WHY  MAN  LIVES  HERE. 

he  possesses  a  truth  from  which  may  radiate  all  truth.  He 
therefore  has  in  his  mind  the  living  germ  of  all  knowledge 
and  all  wisdom.  And  he  has  all  the  truths  which  could  sup- 
ply motives  and  guidance  for  that  conduct  which  must  lead 
to  happiness. 

Let  us  now  remember,  —  what  we  must  never  forget  in 
the  consideration  of  any  spiritual  problem,  —  that  freedom, 
individual  and  personal  freedom  is  the  fundamental  condition 
of  all  human  progress,  and  that  the  fundamental  law  of  all 
progress  is  the  voluntary  exercise  of  freedom.  For  this  pur- 
pose man  lives  in  this  world.  .He  has  every  facUity  and 
every  inducement  which  could  be  given  him  without  impair- 
ing his  freedom,  for  knowing  God,  and  learning  to  love  BKm, 
and  so  to  be  happy. 

But  any  man  may  refuse  to  use  these  means,  and  may 
resist  all  these  inducements,  and  so  exercise  his  freedom  as  to 
confirm  in  himself  a  choice,  —  a  fixed,  definite  and  permanent 
choice,  —  of  evil  rather  than  good,  of  falsehood  rather  than 
truth,  of  self  rather  than  God.  But  when  this  choice  is  thus 
fixed,  the  character  of  the  man  is  fixed ;  and  because  character 
determines  condition,  his  condition  is  fixed.  That  which  is 
eternal  life  he  docs  not  possess,  because  he  prefers  its  opposite. 
He  has  what  he  chooses,  and  he  chooses  to  be  in  hell. 

But  is  it  therefore  necessary  that  he  should,  through 
eternity,  suffer  ?  or  that  he  should  never  know  enjoyment  ? 

Certainly  not.  To  him,  as  to  the  highest  angel,  infinite 
love  gives  all  that  he  can  receive.  He  is,  as  I  have  already 
said,  never  punished  there  for  sins  committed  here,  for  the 
plain  reason  that  such  punishment  would  be  useless.  He  has 
in  himself  and  by  his  own  cultivation,  tastes  and  proclivities 
which  lead  to  the  indulgence  of  selfishness  and  the  commission 
of  sin ;  and  when  they  produce  this  effect,  so  far  as  to  disturb 
the  Older  of  hell  and  unduly  diminish  the  enjoyment  of 
others,  he  is  punished  to  prevent  this.  He  is  made  to  suffer, 
that  the  experience  of  suffering  may  teach  him  and  the  fear 


TEE  WORLD   OF  SPIRITS.  157 

of  suffering  induce  him,  to  abstain  from  sin,  or  at  least  to 
regulate  and  moderate  his  tendencies  to  sin.  By  this  exter- 
nal discipline  his  external  conduct  is  controlled. 

This  is  all  that  can  be  done.  But  this  is  done  as  effectually 
as  it  can  be  done  by  love,  wisdom  and  power,  aU  absolute. 
They  who  are  so  governed  may  be  called  unhappy,  in  so  far 
that  they  have  nothing  —  not  one  particle — of  that  which 
would  be  called  happiness  by  those  who  know  the  happiness 
of  heaven.  But  they  may  have  all  that  they  conceive  of 
enjoyment.  They  have  as  much  of  this  as  they  can  be 
persuaded  to  have,  or  coerced  into  a  fitness  for  by  a  disci- 
pline which  is  suited  to  them.  There  may  be  an  indefinite 
advance  in  their  external  order,  and  their  external  enjoyment ; 
but  there  can  never  be  any  change  in  the  nature  of  their 
enjoyment ;  for  this  could  only  come  by  forcibly  depriving 
them  of  all  that  constitutes  their  life.  It  would  be  all  that 
covdd  come  to  them  of  punishment  and  cruelty. 


THE   WORLD    OF   SPIRITS. 

In  Heaven  are  the  good ;  in  HeU  are  the  evil ;  but  few,  or 
none,  go  from  this  world,  possessing  a  character  which  quali- 
fies them  to  go  at  once  and  find  their  place  in  Heaven  or  in 
Hell.  They  remain  for  a  time  in  an  intermediate  state.  In 
this  state  they  pass  through  experiences  which  discover  to 
themselves  and  disclose  to  others,  what  they  really  are. 
Hypocrisy  is  impossible  ;  and  self-deception  equally  so.  The 
ruling  element  of  the  character,  the  life-love,  becomes  mani- 
fest and  sovereign.  Impediments  are  cast  away.  The  good 
man  feels  himself  freer  to  be  good  than  he  ever  was  before, 
and  as  one  obstruction  after  another  is  removed,  as  one  after 
another  of  the  tendencies  to  evil  against  which  he  had  com- 
batted  with  so  much  pain  and  weariness  are  suppressed,  he 
rejoices  with  joy  unspeakable,  over  his  gain  of  new  life ;  and 
thus  becomes  qualified  to  find  and  to  take  his  place  in  heaven. 


158         MAN  BISES  FROM  HIS  DEAD  BODY. 

From  the  evil  man,  all  disguises  are  rent  away,  and  thus 
he  is  prepared  to  find  and  to  take  his  place  in  Hell. 

To  this  intermediate  state,  Swedenborg  gives  the  name 
of  the  Wovld  of  Spirits.  They  who  are  there  are  Spirits, 
for  they  have  left  this  world.  But  they  are  not  yet  Angels 
or  Devils. 

At  night,  when  we  go  to  sleep,  our  body  sleeps,  and  if  the 
sleep  be  profound,  the  mind,  the  soul  sleeps.  If  we  die, 
the  body  does  not  awake,  but  the  soul  does.  Death  is  always 
sleep.  There  is  a  short  period  of  entire  unconsciousness. 
Swedenborg  tells  us  that  about  the  third  day  from  apparent 
death,  the  soul  is  withdrawn.  It  always  existed  in  a  spiritual 
body ;  and  this  spiritual  body  gave  life  to  the  material  body. 
When  this  spiritual  body  is  withdrawn  the  material  body 
wholly  dies.  The  man  acquires  no  new  body,  and  needs 
none ;  for  he  rises  in  his  spiritual  body. 

He  rises  with  all  the  thoughts  and  affections  which  he  had 
before,  and  with  no  other.  And  when  we  remember  that  the 
spiritual  world  about  any  one  is  the  effect  of  his  inner  world, 
and  presents  itself  as  the  expression  of  that  inner  world,  and 
remember  also  that  the  man  carries  with  him  all  his  cus- 
tomary thoughts  and  memories,  we  may  see,  that,  at  first,  the 
objects  about  the  newly  risen  man  are  similar  to  those  which 
he  has  left.  The  world  is  just  such  a  world  to  him.  It  is 
his  own  familiar  world ;  it  affects  his  senses  just  as  it  used  to  ; 
and  he  may  not  know  that  he  is  dead  and  has  risen,  until  he  is 
told,  and  notices  that  they  are  with  him  who  had  gone  before. 

At  first,  then,  there  is  but  little  change.  This  however 
continues  but  a  short  time.  Changes  come  over  him,  and  are 
represented  in  changes  about  him.  And  Swedenborg  gives 
much  minute  information  concerning  these  successive  changes, 
or  his  early  and  later  states. 

Much  the  greater  part  of  Swedenborg's  relations  concern- 
ing the  spiritual  world  and  things  and  persons  seen  and  heard 
there  refer  to  the  "World  of  Spirits.     He  often  sees  angels 


INSTRUCTION  OF  SPIRITS.  159 

there,  for  it  is  easy  for  them  to  come  down  into  this  lower 
state  if  they  have  a  use  to  perform  there.  So  he  sees  devils 
there,  for  they  are  permitted  to  rise  and  come  into  this  state, 
when  work  is  given  them  to  do  there.  And  the  appearances 
of  place  and  change  of  place,  and  of  all  that  depends  on 
space  and  time  are  the  same  there  that  they  are  here. 

Hence,  in  Heaven  and  in  Hell  the  external  world  is  far 
more  permanent  than  our  material  world,  for  there  the  states 
it  represents  are  more  permanent ;  and  the  variations  are  only 
such  as  respond  to  the  variations  of  thought  and  feeling, 
making  the  outer  world  always  new  while  yet  it  remains  sub- 
stantially the  same.  But  in  the  "World  of  Spirits  it  is  other- 
wise. Changes  in  the  appearances  of  things  take  place  easily 
and  often  and  to  any  extent,  as  Swedenborg's  relations  show. 
And  they  also  show  that  the  external  world  is  there  con- 
stantly made  use  of,  to  instruct,  correct  and  discipline  those 
who  are  there.  And  this  must  be  remembered  by  those  who 
read  those  relations,  and  will  help  them  to  understand  much 
that  they  will  find  there. 

Thus,  in  one  long  relation,  certain  well-disposed  spirits  are 
disabused  of  their  errors  respecting  Heaven ;  for  all  who  be- 
lieve in  this  world  that  there  is  a  heaven  are  more  or  less 
apt  to  try  to  imagine  what  it  is,  and  so  form  to  themselves  a 
fancy,  sometimes  a  strongly  fixed  fancy,  of  what  constitutes 
its  happiness.  Some  of  these  persons  had  looked  upon 
Heaven  as  a  place  where  they  should  enjoy  for  ever  pleasant 
associations  with  agreeable  and  entertaining  people.  They 
were  gathered  together  into  a  spacious  house,  and  there 
sought  out  those  who  were  interested  in  what  was  interesting 
to  them,  and  permitted  to  indulge  in  the  pleasantest  inter- 
course of  this  kind,  until  they  were  intensely  wearied  and 
saddened  by  it.  Others  had  taken  literally  the  notion  that 
they  would  have  perpetual  feasts  with  "  Abraham,  Isaac 
and  Jacob,"  and  all  manner  of  enjoyments  of  like  kind. 
They  too  were  indulged  with  pleasures  of  this  sort,  and  men 


160  SUM  OF  ALL  INSTRUCTION. 

personating  the  patriarchs  sat  with  them  at  the  tables ;  and 
they  also  soon  became  satiated  and  nauseated  and  prayed  for 
relief.  Others  expected  to  be  literally  "  kings  and  princes," 
with  power  and  splendor  and  all  things  in  accordance  with 
their  exalted  station.  And  they  soon  found  that  these  things 
alone  made  them  miserable.  Others  had  their  minds  filled 
with  the  thoughts  of  a  literal  paradise,  or  garden  of  exquisite 
perfection,  with  all  possible  delights  of  that  kind.  They 
were  introduced  to  such  a  paradise,  and  kept  in  it  until  their 
only  thought  was  how  they  should  escape.  Others  took  liter- 
ally what  is  said  of  the  eternal  glorification  of  God,  and 
expected  to  find  heavenly  joy  and  hajjpiness  in  a  perpetual 
festival  of  worship.  They  were  taken  to  a  city  and  temple 
seemingly  devoted  to  this  kind  of  unending  Sabbath.  And 
they  tried  it  until  they  were  so  overcome  with  weariness  and 
listlessness,  that  they  asked  for  nothing  but  to  be  free  from 
it.  Many  believed  that  an  introduction  to  heaven  and  all  its 
happiness  could  always  be  granted  by  Divine  Mercy ;  and  they 
were  taught  the  truth  by  those  whom  an  angel  summoned  to 
relate  the  various  experiences  by  which  they  had  been  cured 
of  this  error.  Then  some  were  selected  to  be  so  prepared 
that  they  might  enter  into  a  certain  actual  heaven  and  re- 
main there  a  time,  and  learning  from  observation  what  that 
heaven  was,  might  return  to  the  others  and  relate  their  ex- 
periences ;  and  this  they  did. 

And  what  is  the  sum  of  all  the  instruction  thus  gained 
about  heavenly  life  ?  "  There  is  a  tendency  in  the  affection 
of  the  will  of  every  angel  which  draws  his  mind  to  the  doing 
of  some  use,  in  which  he  finds  pleasantness  and  enjoyment. 
He  is  thus  capable  of  receiving  the  love  of  usefulness  from 
the  Lord ;  and  from  the  reception  of  this  love  is  heavenly 
happiness."  "  The  delight  of  the  soul  is  from  love  and  wis- 
dom received  from  the  Lord;  and  because  love  must  be 
active,  and  is  effective  through  wisdom,  both  love  and  wisdom 
are  in  the  effect,  and  the  effect  is  use.     This  delight  from  the 


THE  STARTLINa  ANNOUNCEMENT.  IGl 

Lord  flows  into  the  soul,  and  descends  through  the  mind  into 
the  senses  of  the  body,  and  completes  itself  in  them ;  and 
thence  joy  becomes  joy,  and  is  eternal  from  the  Eternal." 

I  have  not  much  fear  that  the  conclusion  will  shock  any 
readers,  however  strange  it  may  seem.  But  the  details  must 
shock  all  who  have  no  other  than  the  common,  the  nearly 
universal  belief — if  belief  it  be  —  in  a  spiritual  world.  It 
is  not  these  details  which  will  fill  them  with  incredulity,  but 
it  is  the  assertion  that  there  are  any  details  of  such  a  thing ; 
for  their  belief  is,  at  its  best,  only  a  belief  that  after  this  life 
is  over  and  men  have  lost  their  bodies  and  are  formless 
essences,  they  may  be  provided  for  somehow.  There  is  no 
help  for  this.  For  such  minds,  the  fact  that  there  is  an 
actual  spiritual  world  is  the  revelation,  the  startling  and 
incredible  announcement.  They  may  be  so  accustomed  to 
say  they  believe  in  another  life,  that  they  do  not  know  how 
dim  and  uncertain  is  their  belief.  The  question  will  not  be 
with  them, — admitting  that  there  is  actual  life  after  death, — 
is  it  reasonable  to  suppose  that  this  can  be  the  manner  of 
that  life  ?  It  may  seem  to  them  that  here  is  the  difficulty. 
But  it  is  not  here.  It  is,  that  belief  of  any  real  and  actual 
spiritual  life»has  become  in  the  last  degree  shadowy  and  un- 
real. It  is  precisely  because  there  is  no  other  belief  pre- 
vailing but  just  this,  and  that  even  this  was  dying  out,  that 
the  divine  mercy  has  now  taught  that  men  do  live  after  death, 
most  truly  and  actually,  in  bodies,  a  personal,  active  and  sen- 
sational life,  with  the  same  organs  of  sense  which  while  they 
were  here  gave  life  to  their  material  organs  of  sense,  and  in 
an  external  world  that  is  perfectly  adapted  to  all  their  senses 
and  all  their  wants,  and  to  all  their  capacities  of  activity  and 
enjoyment. 

11 


162  MIRACLES. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

OF  THE  MIBACLES  RELATED  IN  THE  GOSPELS. 

In  a  previous  chapter  I  have  said  much  of  the  relations 
between  the  external  and  the  internal.  The  distinction  be- 
tween these  is  of  like  kind  with  that  between  the  natural  and 
the  supernatural ;  and  a  large  part  of  what  may  be  said  of 
these  two,  —  of  the  distinction  between  them,  or  the  relations 
between  them,  —  may  as  well  be  said  of  the  other  two :  of 
like  kind,  but  not  the  same ;  and  in  reference  to  some  topics 
they  are  very  different.  In  the  chapter  on  the  birth  and 
nature  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  spoke  of  the  external  and  the  in- 
ternal. I  now  have  to  consider  the  subject  of  miracles,  and 
must  begin  with  noticing  the  difference  between  the  natural 
and  the  supernatural ;  for  in  a  miracle,  the  natural  and  the 
supernatural  meet :  both  are  there. 

Always  has  the  meaning  of  these  two  words,  —  the  natural 
and  the  supernatural,  —  always  have  these  two  things,  or 
forces,  or  phenomena,  and  the  relations  between  them,  been  a 
subject  of  earnest  inquiry,  and  a  most  difficult  subject.  But 
some  knowledge  of  the  two,  of  the  distinction  between  them, 
and  of  the  relation  between  them,  and  of  their  mutual  depen- 
dence and  operation,  is  at  least  possible,  if  we  begin  from  the 
right  starting-point;  and  in  this  inquiry,  as  in  others  of  a 
religious  character,  this  point  must  be,  the  purposes  of  God  iu 
relation  to  man,  so  far  as  we  can  recognize  them. 

We  may  also  derive  some  help  in  understanding  the  true 
meaning  of  the  word  "nature,"  from  a  consideration  of  its 
derivation.      It   is   the   English    form    of   the    Latin   word 


MAN,  A  SOUL  IN  A  BODY.  163 

"natura,"  which  comes  from  a  word  signifying  "to  be 
bom." 

It  is  the  will  of  God,  that  a  man  should  be  bom  in  a  body 
and  upon  the  earth ;  that  he  should  thus  begin  to  live.  For 
this  purpose  God  provides  for  man  a  body  and  an  earth ;  and 
the  body  is  made  out  of  the  same  materials  as  the  earth; 
and  the  body  and  the  earth  are  adapted  to  each  other,  and 
both  are  adapted  to  the  man. 

Let  us  then  say,  as  our  first  conclusion,  that  nature  means 
whatever  belongs  to  the  body  in  which  and  the  earth  upon 
which  man  is  bom. 

But  man  has  also  a  living  soul :  he  is  a  soul  within  a  body ; 
and  the  soul,  or  the  man  consisting  of  soul  and  body,  is 
created  to  live  for  a  while  upon  the  earth  on  which  he 
is  born ;  and  therefore  he  has  faculties  which  are  adapted  to 
this  purpose.  They  are  faculties  by  which  he  perceives  and 
knows  and  understands  the  things  of  the  body  and  the  earth, 
and  lays  hold  of  them,  and  makes  use  of  them  ;  and  by  means 
of  these  faculties,  which  are  perfectly  adapted  to  the  body  and 
the  earth,  he  may,  to  an  indefinite  extent,  continually  increase 
his  knowledge  of  the  body  and  the  earth,  and  his  ability  to 
use  his  knowledge  for  his  advantage. 

Some  of  these  faculties  are  of  the  senses ;  others  are 
faculties  of  thought.  But  they  are  all  faculties  of  the  soul, 
because  the  bodily  organs  have  no  faculties  excepting  as  they 
are  the  instruments  of  the  soul.  All  these  faculties,  whether 
of  sense  or  of  thought,  are  given  to  man  that  he  may  more 
and  more  understand  and  use  the  body  in  which  and  the 
earth  into  which  he  is  born ;  and  therefore  we  may  call  all 
of  these  faculties,  natural  faculties.  If  we  first  call  the  body 
and  the  earth,  and  all  the  things  of  both,  nature,  we  may  then 
call  those  faculties,  whether  of  sense  or  of  thought,  which  are 
given  for  and  are  adapted  to  the  understanding  and  use  of 
this  nature,  natural  faculties. 

It  is  obvious  that  these  faculties  might  reach,  in  successive 


164  SUPERNATURAL   FACULTIES. 

generations  of  men,  any  amount  of  cultivation  and  develop- 
ment, although  each  man  died  when  his  body  died ;  and  might 
still  be  only  natural.  But  man  does  not  die  when  his  body 
dies :  he  lives  a  vast  deal  longer  after  he  leaves  the  body  than 
he  can  live  in  it :  he  is  never  to  die ;  and  this  life  is  only 
introductory  to  another.  And  he  is  born  into  this  earthly 
life,  that  he  may  here  prepare  for  the  life  to  which  this  life  is 
introductory. 

Therefore,  besides  the  natural  faculties  which  are  adapted 
to  this  body  and  this  earth,  and  to  life  therein,  he  has  other 
faculties,  provided  for  and  adapted  to  the  other  life,  and  to 
purposes  connected  therewith ;  or  provided  for  and  adapted 
to  a  preparation  in  this  life  for  another  life.  These  are 
faculties  by  which  he  may  learn  something  about  that  other 
life,  and  may  consciously  prepare  for  it.  These  faculties  are 
as  much  above  the  natural  faculties,  as  heaven  is  above  the 
earth.  They  are  as  much  more  important  than  the  natural 
faculties,  as  eternity  is  more  than  time.  Given  to  man  for 
no  other  reason  than  because  he  is  immortal,  they  are  adapted 
to  make  him  a  happy  immortal.  They  are,  in  every  possible 
respect,  higher  than  the  natural  faculties,  and  may  therefore 
be  called  supernatural  faculties. 

It  might  seem  that  the  natural  faculties  of  thought  are  the 
same  with  what  are  here  called  supernatural  faculties,  the  only 
difference  being  that  they  are  employed  on  different  subjects. 
It  is  not  quite  so.  Observation,  logic  and  ratiocination  may 
do  their  work  thoroughly  and  well,  when  applied  to  natural 
things.  But  if  these  same  faculties,  working  only  in  the  way 
in  which  they  work  on  the  natural  plane  of  thought  which  is 
proper  to  them,  come  to  the  questions,  Is  there  a  God  ?  "HTiat 
is  He  ?  Is  there  a  future  life  ?  What  is  that  ?  they  will  find 
no  God,  and  no  immortality.  They  may  exalt  nature,  and 
call  it  God ;  and  then  all  that  nature  can  do  for  them  who 
know  it  best,  is  to  hide  God  most  completely.  They  may 
becloud  themselves  in  the  fantasy  that "  the  spark  of  individual 


NATURAL  FACULTIES.  165 

life  is  re-absorbed  into  the  infinite  whole,"  and  thus  give  a 
positive  strength  to  their  denial  of  a  future  personal  life. 
They  have  no  God,  and  no  immortality.  To  find  these,  other 
faculties,  higher  than  the  natural,  are  required.  These  are, 
in  many  respects,  similar,  in  manifestation  and  in  operation, 
to  the  natural  faculties ;  but  they  are  not  the  same.  They 
correspond  together.  Their  relation  to  each  other  is  the 
same  as  that  of  all  things  of  the  spirit  to  all  things  of  the 
body,  —  of  all  things  of  the  spiritual  world  to  all  things  of 
the  material  world :  it  is  the  relation  of  correspondence,  not 
of  identity.  There  may,  however,  be  no  harm  in  considering 
these  faculties  as  even  the  same,  if  we  remember  that  they 
act  on  different  planes  of  thought,  use  different  means,  seek 
different  results  ;  and  when  we  look  at  the  affections  which 
are  their  motive-power,  or  at  the  work  they  do,  the  aspects 
which  they  bear  are  wholly  different. 

There  are  those  in  whom  the  natural  faculties  of  sense  and 
thought  are  cultivated  and  exercised,  while  no  faculties  higher 
than  the  natural  come  into  activity  or  into  consciousness. 
Such  persons  may  look  on  those  as  mistaken,  who  believe  in 
something  other  and  higher  than  nature,  and  who  endeavor 
to  employ  the  faculties  which  are  adapted  to  the  comprehen- 
sion of  this  other  and  higher  thing  and  the  truths  which 
belong  to  it.  Or  rather  persons  of  the  former  class  must  look 
on  those  of  the  latter  class  as  simply  mistaken ;  as  founding 
their  intellectual  efforts  and  desires  on  mere  nothingness ;  as 
seeking,  through  the  ways  of  fantasy,  results  which  can  be 
only  false  and  foolish. 

The  distinction  between  the  faculties  which  are  only 
natural,  and  those  which  are  higher  than  the  natural,  is  not 
now  usually  expressed  by  the  words  natural  and  supernatural, 
but,  for  many  purposes  at  least,  by  the  words  natural  and 
spiritual. 

When  we  now  attempt  to  use  such  words  as  internal  and 
external,  natural  and  supernatural,  natural  and  spiritual,  as 


166  ALL  FACULTY  SPIRITUAL. 

terms  of  the  science  of  religion,  we  are  embarrassed  by  the 
confusion  and  indefiniteness  of  meaning  which  now  belong  to 
these  words.  The  cause  of  this  is  obvious.  Words  express 
ideas,  and  can  only  express  such  ideas  as  those  who  use  them 
have  ;  and  ideas  on  these  subjects  have  been,  generally,  to  the 
last  degree  confused  and  indefinite.  As  the  ideas  grow  more 
certain  and  definite  with  the  advancement  of  the  science  of 
religion,  these  words,  and  other  terms  of  this  science,  will 
become  more  certain  and  more  definite  in  their  meaning. 
Thus,  when  we  speak  of  natural  and  spiritual,  we  are  wholly 
wrong,  if  we  only  understand,  as  some  do,  that  certain 
faculties  belong  to  the  material  body,  and  these  are  natural, 
and  certain  others  to  the  spii'it,  and  these  are  spiritual.  All 
faculty,  or  power,  belongs  to  the  spirit.  The  body  is  only 
the  clothing  and  instrument  of  the  spirit.  It  lives  only  while 
and  only  because  the  spirit  is  in  it,  imparting  life  to  it ;  and 
the  body  is,  all  the  while,  just  as  dead  in  itself,  as  we  see  it 
to  be  when  it  is  separated  from  the  spirit. 

The  word  spiritual,  like  many  other  words  of  our  language, 
is  sometimes  used  in  a  broad  or  general  sense,  and  sometimes 
in  a  more  limited  and  specific  sense.  When  used  in  this 
broad  sense,  it  means  all  things  of  the  soul,  and  of  the  world 
into  which  the  soul  rises  at  death,  in  contradistinction  from 
things  of  the  body  and  of  this  world.  But  the  words  natural 
and  spiritual  bear,  as  religious  terms,  another  meaning.  Nat- 
ural faculties  are  the  faculties  of  the  spirit  or  soul  which  are 
adapted  to  and  employed  about  natural  things  and  knowledges 
and  uses ;  and  spiritual  faculties  are  those  faculties  of  the 
soul  which  are  adapted  to  and  may  be  employed  in  the  ac- 
quisition of  just  views  concerning  the  spirit  of  man,  and  the 
spiritual  world  and  life  in  it,  and  so  of  all  spiritual  things, 
knowledges  and  uses. 

All  of  these  faculties,  whether  we  call  them  natural  and 
supernatural,  or  natural  and  spiritual,  are  given  by  one  God, 
for  one  ultimate  purpose.     And,  however  different,  they  are 


ORIGIN  OF  ALL  FORCE.  167 

adapted  to  this  one  purpose,  by  the  connection,  the  harmony, 
the  symbolism  and  correspondence  between  the  material  uni- 
verse and  the  spiritual  universe ;  between  the  body  and  the 
soul;  and  between  the  things  of  the  body  and  the  things 
of  the  soul.  The  briefest  possible  definition  of  the  natural  and 
the  supernatural  may  be  given,  when  we  say  that  the  natural 
looks  only  outwards  and  downwards,  while  the  spiritual  looks 
inwards  and  upwards. 

The  common  opinion  about  the  natural  and  the  supei'nat- 
ural  is,  that  natural  things  move  on  in  an  orderly  way,  and  in 
accordance  with  established  laws ;  and  that  the  supernatural 
comes  in  somehow  as  an  abnormal  force,  violating  or  suppress- 
ing law,  and  in  that  way  proving  itself  to  be  supernatural. 
There  is  much  error  in  this. 

All  faculty,  or  power,  or  force,  is,  in  its  origin  and  primary 
condition,  supernatural.  In  God  there  is,  as  of  His  essence, 
that  which  in  ourselves  we  call  Love.  We  see  it  as  affection, 
desire,  impulse,  and  all  the  impelling  force  of  the  soul ;  and 
when  we  think  about  it,  we  see  that  its  total  absence  would 
make  all  action  impossible.  What  this  is  in  God,  we  cannot 
adequately  conceive.  But  coming  from  Him  into  human  wills, 
whether  in  the  spiritual  world  or  in  this  world,  it  becomes 
Love  in  all  its  forms.  Then,  passing  down  still  lower,  and 
into  the  material  universe,  it  there  becomes  Force,  —  force  in 
its  simplest  and  most  universal  form,  —  all  the  impelling 
force  of  the  material  world ;  and  as  it  is  received  into  various 
things,  it  puts  on  various  forms,  in  accordance  with  the  things 
in  which  it  is  and  with  their  place  and  use  in  the  universe,  and 
has  various  appearances,  and  is  called  by  various  names,  —  as 
lieat,  light,  actinic,  magnetic,  and  other  forces ;  and,  in  its 
most  general  form,  and  by  its  most  general  name,  motion. 
These  forces,  as  they  are  here  in  this  world  in  which  man 
begins  life,  or  this  natural  world,  are  natural  forces ;  they 
produce  natural  effects ;  they  act  in  certain  ways,  or  by  cer- 
tain methods,  which  have  a  considerable  permanence  and 


168  LAWS   OF  NAIURE. 

uniformity ;  and  as  fast  as  we  discover  these  methods,  we 
call  them  laws,  —  laws  of  nature,  or  natural  laws.  They  are, 
however,  in  fact,  only  the  customary  methods  by  which  super- 
natural force  operates  and  manifests  itself  when  it  comes 
down  upon  a  natural  plane,  or  into  natural  things. 

All  this  while  this  Force  is  in  God,  and  is  put  forth  by 
Him,  creating,  sustaining  and  governing  worlds  and  all  things 
in  them.  In  the  heavens  and  through  the  angels  it  is  putting 
forth  a  power  that  is  exerted  in  forms  and  effects  many 
of  which  it  would  be  difficult  for  us  to  imagine.  In  this 
lower  world  it  is  whatever  we  recognize  as  force,  or  as  causa- 
tive or  motive  influence.  And  whenever  there  is  a  reason 
why  this  force  operating  in  nature  should  manifest  itself  in  a 
new  and  unusual  effect,  or  should  work  by  a  new  method,  there 
is  nothing  whatever  to  prevent  it  from  doing  so.  Always 
it  is  Divine  fox'ce,  directed  by  Divine  wisdom,  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  a  Divine  purpose.  But  it  is,  in  itself,  no  more 
supernatural,  when  thus  unusual  in  action  or  manifestation, 
than  it  was  before.  Always  supernatural  in  its  origin,  and 
continuing  to  be  supernatural  while  it  remains  above  nature 
and  works  in  the  planes  of  existence  which  are  above  nature, 
it  becomes  natural  force  when  it  comes  down  into  the  planes 
of  nature  and  operates  there,  whether  by  usual  and  recog- 
nized methods,  or  by  new  and  unknown  methods.  Still,  we 
may  retain,  in  this  connection,  this  use  of  the  word  supernat- 
ural, if  we  understand  by  it  that  a  force  always  supernatural 
in  essence  and  in  origin,  now  so  acts  as  to  be  seen  to  be  the 
supernatural  force  which  it  always  is  in  itself. 

There  are  persons  in  whose  minds  every  thing  above  the 
natural  is  so  dead,  that  they  can  have  no  belief  that  any  super- 
natural being  or  force  exists.  They  may  or  may  not  be  con- 
scious of  this.  They  may  or  may  not  say  so  to  themselves, 
or  to  others.  But,  in  point  of  fact,  there  is  nothing  in  their 
minds  which  ought  to  be  called  heJief,  that  existences  or  forces 
are  in  being  or  in  operation,  other  than  those  which  belong  to 


NATURAL  EXPLANATIONS.  169 

the  visible  world.  If  any  evidence  comes  to  them  of  some 
strange  occurrence,  they  not  only  look  first,  as  all  persons 
should  look,  for  an  explanation  of  it  in  the  recognized  and 
customary  forces  or  methods  of  nature ;  they  not  only  say, 
what  may  always  be  justly  said,  that  we  are  so  ignorant 
of  the  extent  or  method  of  operation  of  natural  forces,  that 
if  we  knew  more  we  might  find  the  explanation  sought ;  but 
they  are  wholly  unable  to  go  farther  than  this.  Tliey  are 
wholly  unable  even  to  consider  fairly  the  question,  whether 
there  be  not  here  a  niv  thing,  involving  a  positive  departure 
from  the  customary  course  of  old  things ;  a  new  thing,  com- 
pelling the  admission,  either  that  it  is  effected  by  a  new  power, 
or  that  the  old  power  was  something  very  different  from  what 
they  had  supposed.  To  any  natural  explanation  they  are 
open.  But  evidence  tending  to  exclude  merely  natural  ex- 
planations, must  seem,  by  the  necessity  of  their  own  minds, 
not  trustworthy.  It  is  to  them  incredible,  because  it  tends  to 
prove  the  impossible. 

But,  whether  it  is  believed,  on  the  one  hand,  that  there 
is  nothing  supernatural,  or  on  the  other,  that  the  supernatural 
is  abnormal  and  uncertain,  and  comes  down  as  a  stranger  into 
the  world  of  nature  to  disturb  order,  and  violate  law,  and 
make  its  presence  known  by  the  only  proof  it  can  offer,  which 
is  this  very  disturbance  and  violation,  all  of  this  they  who 
hold  to  the  philosophy  of  the  New  Church  must  regard  as 
erroneous.  Not  only  are  supernatural  persons  and  forces 
positive  and  actual  existences,  but  it  is  through  them  and  by 
them  that  the  natural  world  exists  and  is  moved.  Not  only 
have  all  supernatural  forces  their  own  order  and  law,  but  it  is 
their  order  and  law  which  come  down  into  nature,  and  cause 
and  constitute  all  the  order  and  all  the  law  there  are  in 
nature. 

There  are  few  words  used  with  so  little  propriety,  or  which, 
being  misused,  re-act  so  mischievously  upon  thought,  as  the 
phrase,  "  Laws  of  Nature."     With  all  thinking  persons,  who 


170  IS  NATURE  A   SOVEREIGNS 

endeavor  to  understand  the  words  they  use,  this  phrase  means, 
of  course,  nothing  more  than  certain  supposed  uniformities  in 
the  order  of  succession,  or  in  the  co-existence,  of  external  and 
cognizable  phenomena.  In  the  meaning  they  would  give  to 
the  phrase,  there  is  nothing  of  the  first  element  of  law.  But, 
even  to  them,  unconsciously,  and  to  all  who  use  the  phrase 
without  thought,  it  expresses  and  excites  some  idea  of 
"  Nature  "  as  a  law-making  power,  —  blind  it  may  be,  and 
deaf,  and  dead,  and  always  impersonal,  —  but  as  a  kind  of 
controlling  power,  which  has  laid  down  certain  "laws," 
which  all  things  that  belong  to  "  Nature  "  must  obey. 

If  to  persons  so  influenced  by  these  words  or  this  thought, 
a  fact  presents  itself  as  a  miracle,  and  as  the  effect  and  proof 
of  supernatural  agency  and  force  because  it  is  a  miracle, 
the  idea  at  once  and  necessarily  in  their  minds  is  that  of 
two  conflicting  powers.  One  of  these  is  an  old  acquaint- 
ance ;  it  is  customary  in  its  action,  and  orderly,  and  recog- 
nized. The  other  is  a  stranger,  exceptional,  without  rule 
or  limit,  victorious  by  its  greater  power,  and  subduing  for 
that  time  the  opposition  of  nature.  Wliether  they  can  either 
believe  this,  or  not  (to  say  nothing  now  about  understanding 
it),  depends  upon  the  strength  of  their  actual  belief  that 
"  Nature  "  is  somehow  a  legislating  and  a  sovereign  power. 

Let  us  apply  this  to  the  greatest  of  all  miracles,  —  the 
conception,  by  a  virgin  mother,  of  Jesus  Christ. 
!.  Conception  by  means  of  the  union  of  male  and  female 
parentage  is  the  regular,  established,  and  recognized  course 
of  nature,  and  of  all  nature.  If  there  are  among  animals 
any  real  instances  of  births  from  virgins  (parthenogenesis  — 
the  scientific  name  of  what  is  sometimes  supposed  to  be  this 
—  is  not  yet  well  understood  nor  proved  to  exist),  they  are 
far  down  on  the  lower  planes  of  organized  beings,  and  have 
no  reference  to  man. 

There  are  then  two  ways  of  considering  this  preternatural 
conception.     There  are  some  who  say  it  is  not  true,  because  it 


A    VIRGIN  SHALL   CONCEIVE.  171 

'  is  not  possible.  It  contradicts  all  the  laws  of  nature.  Such 
persons  know  nothing  whatever  which  justifies  them  as  ra- 
tional persons  in  calling  it  possible ;  and  therefore  they  say  we 
cannot,  as  rational  persons,  inquire  into  the  evidence  which 
purports  to  prove  an  impossibility.  If,  however,  they  are 
willing  to  look  at  the  evidence  of  this  supernatural  concep- 
tion, and  remember  that  it  stands  in  opposition  to  evidence  so 
strong  as  that  of  the  laws  of  nature,  they  must  then  say  that 
this  evidence  is  not  strong  enough  to  justify  belief. 

But  others  have  not  this  difficulty.  They  are  not  what  the 
first  class  would  call  rational.  They  say,  the  Old  Testament 
declares  a  virgin  shall  conceive ;  some  of  the  Gospels  say  a 
virgin  did  conceive !  Well,  we  believe  it.  It  is  a  part  of 
our  religion,  and  an  essential  part ;  and  we  are  not  to  be 
reasoned  out  of  it  by  those  who  really  know  no  more  about 
these  things  than  we  do.  And  then  this  fact  stands  in  their 
minds  as  an  established  fact ;  and  it  is  useful  to  them :  but  it 
stands  there  as  an  abnormal,  exceptional  and  astounding  fact ; 
as  an  exhibition  of  Omnipotent  power,  proving  the  presence 
and  the  action  of  that  power,  and  its  absolute  control  of 
nature ;  and  giving  supreme  authority  to  the  words  and  com- 
mands of  the  Being  thus  conceived. 

'^  There  are  these  two  ways  of  considering  this  greatest  of 
miracles ;  but  there  is  also  a  third  way.  If  we  begin  with 
understanding  that  all  life  is  derived  from  Divine  life  im- 
parted to  recipient  forms ;  that  God  is  our  Father,  and  the 
Father  of  each  one  of  us,  not  in  a  poetical,  but  in  a  most 
real  sense ;  that  a  human  father,  himself  living  from  our 
Divine  Father,  is  an  instrument  of  the  Divine  Father,  by 
means  of  which  the  life  of  God,  appropriated  and  qualified 
by  the  human  father,  may  pass  into  a  new  being,  or  form,  or 
germ,  prepared  to  receive  life ;  and  that  this  new  being  grows 
into  a  man  by  the  life  then  and  so  received  from  God,  and 
1  constantly  thereafter  to  be  received  from  God ;  if  we  begin 
'thus,  we  shall  see  that  when  Jesus  Christ  was  conceived 


172  WHAT  MIRACLES  ARE.  '^ 

of  God,  a  peculiarity  of  the  case  consisted  in  this :  the  Di- 
vine life,  which  ordinarily  flows  into  every  human  father,  ! 
i  and  becoming  his  life  passes  through  him  into  the  vital  germ 
I  in  the  mother,  here  entered  into  the  living  germ  in  the  virgin 
I  mother,  without  using  the  customary  instrumentation. 
■     And  then  the  New  Church  goes  on  to  tell  us  why.     Not 
/to  bring  completely  within  finite  comprehension  the  mystery 
{of  mysteries,  —  for  all  conception  is  a  great  mystery,  and 
i  this  only  the  most  mysterious  of  all,  —  but  to  tell  us  some- 
i  thing  of  it :  to  tell  us  the  work  which  was  to  be  done  by  Him 
who  was  thus  conceived ;  to  show  us  that  this  infinite  work 
of  infinite  love  could  not  have  been  done,  unless  the  germ  of 
humanity  within  the  mother  could  have  within  it  a  life  not 
only  Divine  in  its  origin,  but  a  life  not  limited  and  qualified 
by  passing  through  a  human  father ;  to  show  us  that,  had  it 
passed  through  a  human  father,  it  must  have  been   appro- 
priated by  him ;  and  from  him  it  would  pass  as  his  life,  with 
the  character,  defects  and  limitations  of  his  life ;  to  show  us 
that  the  work  which  Jesus  had  to  do  could  be  done  only  if 
the  life  within  were  absolute  and  perfect  in  its  own  Divine 
power.     And  the  more  we  know,  and  the  better  we  under- 
stand what  this  work  was,  the  more  clearly  we  shall  see  that 
it  could  not  have  been  wrought  but  by  God  working  within  a 
man,  and  in  and  through  a  human  nature,  but  with  perfect 
and  irresistible  power. 

The  miracles  related  in  the  Gospels  were  acts  of  Divine 
power,  working  by  unusual  means  and  agency.  They  were 
acts  of  the  same  power,  which  entering  into  the  forms  of 
nature  becomes  all  the  force  of  nature.  They  were  not  the 
acts  of  a  new  power,  which  for  the  most  part  keeps  aloof 
from  nature,  and  can  operate  in  and  on  nature  only  by  dis- 
order; and  they  were  acts  in  most  respects  analogous  to  the 
more  common  operations  of  the  same  power,  differing  only 
as  the  same  purpose  led  at  this  time  to  the  use  of  different 
means  and  methods. 


♦  THE    USE   OF  THE  MATERIAL  BODY-         173 

It  may  be  remarked,  however,  that  there  were  then  and 
always  departures  from  the  usual  course  of  events,  of  a 
different  kind,  to  which  we  may  give  or  may  not  give  the 
name  of  miracles.  It  has  been  already  stated,  that  the 
material  body  lives  only  when  animated  by  a  living  soul ;  and 
that  the  senses,  powers  and  faculties  of  the  living  body  are 
those  of  the  soul  within  the  body,  using  the  bodily  organs  as 
instruments  of  the  organs  of  the  soul ;  and  that  this  body, 
which  is  an  instrumental  medium  between  the  soul  and  the 
material  world,  is  also  a  barrier  or  obstruction  between  the 
soul  and  the  spiritual  world. 

But  the  use  of  the  material  body,  as  an  instrument,  may 
be  suspended  even  during  our  life  here,  and  is  suspended  in 
some  conditions  or  by  some  forms  of  weakness  or  disease ; 
and  then  the  soul  has  for  the  time  no  perception  of,  and  no 
hold  upon,  the  material  world.  So,  too,  the  obstruction  inter- 
posed by  the  material  body  to  the  recognition  by  the  soul  of 
the  spiritual  world,  may  be  suspended ;  and  then  the  soul, 
while  within  the  body,  sees,  knows  and  uses  the  persons  and 
things  of  the  spiritual  world,  in  much  the  same  manner  as  if 
the  soul  were  permanently  released  from  the  body  by  death. 

This  condition  has  occurred  from  time  to  time,  with  one 
person  or  another,  in  all  ages.  It  has  caused  that  belief  in 
ghosts,  visions  and  the  like,  which  has  been  serviceable  in 
keeping  alive  some  belief  in  supernatural  persons  and  things. 
Whenever  a  ghost  or  any  spiritual  scene  has  been  perceived, 
it  has  been  seen  or  heard  by  or  through  the  spiritual  organs, 
which  are  usually  covered  and  closed  by  the  material  organs, 
but  were  then  freed  from  this  obstruction,  or,  in  other  words, 
opened.  It  takes  place  in  various  ways  and  in  various  de- 
grees. It  was  the  case  with  Swedenborg  for  many  years 
almost  continuously.  Some  instances  are  mentioned  in  the 
Gospels.  Thus,  when  our  Lord  appeared  to  the  disciples 
after  the  resurrection,  He  opened  their  spiritual  eyes,  that 
they  might  see  Him,  and  their  spiritual  ears,  that  they  might 


174  MAN  MAY  REMAIN  NATURAL.  * 

hear  Him ;  and  in  the  case  of  Thomas,  EGs  spiritual  touch, 
that  he  might  feel  Him.  In  this  way  the  women  saw  the 
angels  at  the  sepulchre ;  and  wherever,  in  the  Old  or  New 
Testaments,  spiritual  persons  or  objects  are  seen  or  heard  (as 
by  John  in  the  Apocalypse),  it  is  only  by  the  spiritual  senses 
and  organs. 

But  they  whose  spiritual  senses  are  thus  opened,  do  not 
always  or  necessarily  know  it.  Even  if  it  seems  to  them 
that  they  see  or  hear  strange  things,  it  may  not  seem  to 
them  that  they  see  or  hear  in  a  strange  or  a  new  way.  In 
fact  they  do  see,  or  hear,  or  touch,  with  the  same  spiritual 
eyes,  or  ears,  or  fingers,  as  before;  but  now  these  spiritual 
senses  do  not  make  use  of  material  organs.  Hence,  too, 
many  of  those  who,  rising  from  the  dead  body,  live  only  in 
the  spiritual  world,  do  not  know,  until  they  are  told,  that  they 
have  passed  through  death,  and  are  in  a  spiritual  world.  For 
that  world  in  its  relations  to  the  spiritual  senses  and  organs, 
is  so  nearly  what  the  material  world  is  in  relation  to  the  ma- 
terial organs,  that,  at  first,  no  difference  is  perceived. 

As  we  include  under  the  word  "  natural "  all  things,  forces 
and  faculties  which  belong  to,  or  are  needed  for,  and  adapted 
to,  the  material  body  and  the  material  world  into  which  a  man 
is  born,  it  is  obvious  that  by  the  development  and  use  of  all 
of  these,  a  man  may  advance  in  his  knowledge  and  his  use  of 
nature  almost  indefinitely,  and  all  the  while  remain  himself 
natural,  or  only  that  which  he  would  be  if  he  utterly  died 
when  the  body  died.  They  who  are  now  in  this  condition  of 
mind  will  not  really  believe,  however  they  admit  it  in  words, 
that  he  does  not  thus  wholly  die,  but  must  live  again  in 
another  world.  Still  less  will  they  be  able  to  believe  (and 
there  are  few  who  seem  to  believe)  that  he  lives  in  this 
world  only  to  prepare  to  live  in  and  for  the  other  world ; 
and  that,  for  this  very  purpose,  other  faculties  are  given  to 
him,  adapted  to  this  other  purpose. 


THE  NATURAL  FACULTIES.  175 

By  the  natural  faculties  he  looks  upon  this  lower  world, 
understands  it,  uses  it,  and  enjoys  it.  By  the  faculties  which 
are  higher  than  the  natural  faculties  (whether  we  call  them 
supernatural  or  spiritual),  he  looks  inwards,  upon  his  soul 
and  its  destiny;  upwards,  beyond  nature  to  God;  not  to 
nature  as  God,  but  to  God  as  other  than  nature,  and  as  the 
Divine  Person  who  creates,  sustains  and  governs  nature.  Pie 
looks  beyond  time  to  eternity ;  beyond  natural  duty  to  spirit- 
ual duty ;  beyond  natural  truth  to  spiritual  truth ;  beyond 
natural  and  transitory  happiness  to  spiritual  and  abiding  hap- 
piness. 

If  the  natural  faculties  are  not  awakened  and  active,  the 
man  cannot  live  at  all.  If  they  only  are  awake  and  active, 
he  will  continue  to  live,  although  the  higher  faculties  are 
never  active :  he  will  continue  to  live,  as  little  more  than  a 
highly  developed  and  cultivated  animal,  not  only  until  death, 
but  ever  after.  For  he  carries  into  the  other  life  only  natural 
desires,  thoughts,  and  intelligence  ;  and  if  such  be  his  charac- 
ter, he  will  find  there,  as  he  finds  here,  a  world  in  which  he 
may  be  at  home.  He  has  no  love  for  any  thing  within  him 
which  is  higher  than  the  natural ;  and  therefore  nothing 
higher  than  the  natural  has  in  him  any  life.  For  it  is  as  easy 
to  be  natural  in  point  of  character,  in  the  spiritual  world  as 
in  the  natural  world.  All  our  faculties  higher  than  the 
natural  are  given  us  that  we  may  prej^are  for  the  spiritual 
world.  Tliis  does  not  mean  that  they  are  given  us  to  pre- 
pare to  enter  into  the  spiritual  world ;  for  that  we  all  do,  all 
must  do,  all  equally,  at  death ;  but  that  we  may,  through  the 
unending  cycles  of  eternal  life,  be  good,  wise,  and  happy. 
We  must  live  in  that  world ;  but  how  we  shall  live  there, 
what  we  shall  be  there,  what  use  we  will  make  whUe 
here  of  the  powers  and  means  given  us  that  we  may  so 
prepare  for  that  life  that  it  shall  be  what  it  should  be,  are 
questions  that  are  submitted  to  our  own  choice  and  our  own 
freedom. 


176  THE  SPIRITUAL  FACULTIES. 

The  essence  of  this  preparation,  or  the  whole  of  this  prepa- 
ration brought  under  one  point  of  view,  consists  in  the  full, 
free,  and  lo\'ing  acknowledgment  of  God.  He  is  the  Life  of 
heaven.  His  own  life,  imparted  to  angels,  and  becoming  the 
life  of  each  as  each  one  can  receive  it,  is  unperverted.  The 
flow  and  current  of  this  stream  of  Divine  life  constitutes  the 
course  of  heavenly  life.  The  inhabitants  of  heaven  are  those 
who  know  this,  acknowledge  it,  perceive  and  feel  it,  and  have 
unspeakable  joy  in  this  knowledge,  and  unspeakable  gratitude 
for  the  love  which  gives  this  life  to  be  their  own  actual  life. 
These  persons  are  spiritual  in  character.  They  have  become 
ihdLtfor  which  spiritual  or  supernatural  faculties  were  given 
to  them.  They  have,  by  the  use  of  the  powers  and  means 
provided,  acquired  that  knowledge  of  God  and  that  love  of 
God,  from  which  flows  forth  unselfish  love  of  other  men,  as 
other  children  of  the  same  Father.  To  reject  wilfully  these 
means  of  happiness,  to  refuse  to  make  use  of  these  higher 
faculties,  to  resist  the  influences  by  which  our  Father  gives  us 
the  power  to  come  thus  to  Him,  is  to  be  and  remain  natural, 
and  only  natural. 

The  essence  of  the  difference  between  this  natural  man 
and  this  spiritual  man  lies  not  in  the  intellectual  part  of 
human  character,  but  in  the  affectional.  Every  man  loves 
what  he  has  chosen  to  love :  his  love  is  that  love  which  he 
has  chosen  to  indulge  and  gratify  and  cultivate ;  for  the 
power  to  choose  and  love  the  good  or  the  evil  is  given  to 
liim,  and  always  preserved,  to  the  end  that  his  own  life  may 
be  most  truly  and  actually  his  own.  And  yet  the  truth 
that  man  possesses,  by  the  very  constitution  of  his  mind, 
this  freedom  and  this  choice,  is  itself  a  truth  that  is  higher 
than  natural  truth ;  and  therefore  men  who  are  only  natural 
men  deny  it,  and  reason  themselves  as  far  as  they  can  into 
the  belief  that  even  their  choice  and  their  love  are  either 
unreal,  or  are  made  for  them  by  force  of  circumstances ! 

It  is  as  easy  to  be  natural  as  to  be  spiritual  in  the  spiritual 


CONTINUED  NATURALISM.  177 

world ;  for  there  also,  one  who  wills,  loves  and  chooses  not  to 
believe  in  any  God  other  than  nature ;  not  to  believe  that 
revelations  from  Him  teach  what  otherwise  we  could  not 
know;  not  to  believe  that  it  is  they  which  tell  us  what  is 
morally  evil ;  not  to  believe  that  we  must  shun  all  evils  as 
sins  against  Him ;  not  to  believe  that  we  are  by  birth  and 
nature  prone  to  these  e\Tils,  and  can  resist  and  put  them  away 
only  by  resisting  self  and  becoming  a  new  creature,  through 
His  influence ;  —  any  one  who  wills,  loves  and  chooses  to 
believe  none  of  these  things,  is  in  freedom  there  to  reject 
them. 

The  denial  of  all  truths  of  this  kind  proves  that  the  man 
has  nothing  of  belief,  or  opinion,  or  motive,  or  desire,  or 
character,  which  he  may  not  have  by  the  exercise  of  the 
faculties  given  him  that  he  may  understand  and  make  use  of 
the  body  and  the  world  into  which  he  is  born ;  that  is,  by  the 
exercise  of  the  natural  faculties.  And  when  he  passes  into 
the  spiritual  world,  and  goes  (as  all  do  there)  among  his  like, 
he  may  continue  to  love  and  to  live  as  he  has  chosen  to  love 
and  to  live :  he  may  continue  to  believe,  that  there  are  no 
higher  faculties,  and  no  higher  happiness  than  that  which 
may  be  attained  by  the  use  of  the  natural  faculties.  He  goes 
there  a  purely  natural  man ;  and  he  remains  there  a  purely 
natural  spirit. 

It  should,  however,  be  distinctly  stated  and  kept  in  remem- 
brance, that  this  abiding  naturalism  of  the  mind  is  never 
caused  merely  by  the  non-exercise  of  faculties  higher  than 
the  natural,  or  by  the  mere  ignorance  of  the  truth ;  but  only 
by  the  suppression  of  those  higher  faculties  through  the 
wilful  and  self-determined  choice,  and  preference  and  exclu- 
sive love,  of  the  natural.  Hence,  it  is  not  the  doom  of  any 
who  die  before  adult  life  permitted  this  choice  to  come  dis- 
tinctly before  them ;  nor  of  those  who  for  any  reason  never 
acquired  in  this  life  sufficient  maturity  of  reason,  whether 
through  defect  or  disease  of  the  brain,  which  while  we  live 

12 


178  NATURAL  KNOWLEDGE. 

on  earth  must  be  the  organ  of  mental  activity ;  or  through 
the  hinderance  of  circumstances,  which  covered  them  as  with 
a  veil  through  which  the  light  of  spiritual  truth  could  not 
penetrate. 

Within  a  few  years  there  has  been  a  vast  increase  in  natu- 
ral knowledge.  It  has  come  that  it  may  be  in  readiness  for 
the  new  spiritual  and  religious  truths,  which,  it  may  be  hoped, 
will  before  long  lay  hold  of  and  make  a  fitting  use  of  this 
knowledge.  But  how  is  it  at  present?  Not  only  are  more 
and  greater  facts  discovered,  but  wonderful  harmonies  among 
them,  waking  responsive  echoes  which  reveal  relations  never 
before  imagined,  and  offering  proofs  of  the  most  far-reaching 
and  all-embracing  design.  It  is,  therefore,  common  to  find 
scientific  men,  of  the  first  rank,  breaking  out  into  expressions 
of  delight  and  wonder,  as  these  new  truths  are  unfolded ;  of 
delight  and  wonder  at  the  magnificence,  the  power,  the  order, 
and  the  harmony  of —  Nature !  Sometimes  the  name  of  God 
is  used ;  but  is  it  often  otherwise  used  than  as  another  name 
for  nature  ?  We  may  be  mistaken  ;  we  hope  we  are  ;  but  it 
seems  to  us  that  the  name  of  God  is  often  so  used,  as  to  indi- 
cate no  thought  of  abandoning  the  love  and  worship  of  self 
for  the  love  and  worship  of  God ;  no  desire  to  resist  and 
abjure  and  put  away  the  delicious  pride  in  one's  own  intelli- 
gence as  one's  own  in  origin,  and  choosing  in  its  stead  the 
higher  happiness  of  constant  gratitude  for  the  constant  gift  of 
God. 

Of  all  the  results  of  the  rapidly  growing  knowledge  of  our 
time,  no  one  is  more  certain,  than  that  no  imaginable  amount 
of  the  knowledge  of  nature  can  prevent,  or,  of  itself,  has  any 
tendency  to  prevent,  naturalism  in  the  mind,  the  heart,  and 
the  life. 

But  what  is  more,  no  knowledge  and  no  certainty  about 
the  existence  of  a  spiritual  world  compels  the  reception 
of  truths  which  in  their  moral  character  are  spiritual,  or  of  a 
life  in  accordance  with  them.     Modern  spiritists,  whether  led 


THE   GREAT  TEACHER.  179 

by  illusion  or  fact,  seem,  for  the  most  part,  firmly  to  believe 
in  a  spiritual  world.  But,  as  far  as  can  be  judged  from  their 
writings  and  from  what  they  say,  their  belief  is  wholly  natu- 
ral in  its  character.  Their  knowledge,  or  their  belief,  of  a 
spiritual  world,  seems  to  confirm  their  naturalism,  in  the  same 
way  that  their  experience  of  that  world  would  confirm  it, 
after  they  were  released  from  their  bodies ;  and  in  the  same 
way  in  which  their  experience  may  confirm  it  afl^er  death. 
A  great  poet  has  said,  "  Wait  the  great  Teacher,  Death ! " 
But  God,  in  whom  and  from  whom  is  all  truth,  is  the  great 
Teacher,  and  the  only  Teacher.  In  all  stages  of  our  exist- 
ence He  is  ready  to  teach  us  all  that,  without  impairing  our 
freedom.  He  can  render  us  willing  to  learn.  More  than  this 
we  can  learn  nowhere  and  by  no  means ;  and  least  of  all 
from  Death. 

The  spiritual  faculties  of  the  soul,  which  are  supernatural, 
are  given  us  that  we  may  stand  with  our  feet  upon  natural- 
ism, and  lift  our  eyes  to  God.  They  may  never  awake ;  never 
begin  to  live,  to  move  or  act.  But  if  they  begin,  the  man 
begins  to  live  a  life  above  nature,  above  the  natural.  A 
new  man  is  born  within  the  former  man.  The  spiritual 
man  is  born  within  the  natural  man.  The  man  is  regen- 
erate ;  or  again  generated  or  begotten ;  or  again  born,  a  new 
creature. 

And  what  follows  ?  This  also  depends  upon  the  man  him- 
self and  his  own  choice.  For  the  command,  "  Choose  ye  this 
day  whom  ye  will  serve,"  is  the  command  of  every  day  of 
our  lives.  So  far  as  is  compatible  with  the  preservation 
of  his  freedom,  he  will  be  led  by  a  most  loving  wisdom ;  he 
will  be  helped  by  the  strength  of  an  Almighty  arm  ;  but  only 
so  far.  Therefore,  this  new  creature,  this  tender  and  newly 
born  spiritual  man,  may  perish  in  its  infancy.  But  if  not, 
it  is  fed  by  all  angelic  influences,  and  led  through  conflict, 
Buffering,  and  temptation,  by  the  cloud  when  the  undimmed 
radiance  of  day  would  be  too  bright,  by  fire  when  unrelieved 


180  WHO   CANNOT  BELIEVE  MIRACLES. 

night  would  overwhelm  him  with  darkness,  —  led  into  the 
fulness  of  "  the  stature  of  a  man,  that  is,  of  an  angel." 

But  the  very  stirring  of  regenerate  life  in  the  heart  is  the 
recognition  of  the  supernatural ;  not  always  by  any  use  of 
that  name,  or  even  of  the  word  spiritual ;  but  by  a  recogni- 
tion of  the  thing.  This  recognition  may  perhaps  be  dim,  im- 
perfect, almost  unconscious  ;  but  it  must  be  there.  It  must 
be  a  recognition  of  God,  as  the  Father  of  our  souls  and  the 
giver  of  all  good ;  of  the  revelations  which  came  from  Him 
to  teach  us  His  will ;  of  our  duty  and  obligation  to  obey  His 
revealed  will ;  of  the  opposition  between  our  natural  dispo- 
sition and  His  revealed  will,  and  the  necessity  of  overcoming 
this  opposition  by  persistent  endeavors  ;  and  of  the  worth  of 
eternity  as  compared  with  the  things  and  interests  of  this 
fleeting  life.  This  recognition  may  be  indeed  obscure,  con- 
fused, and  incapable  of  analysis ;  but  it  must  be  there ;  and 
not  until  it  is  there,  not  until  it  begins  to  be  living  within  the 
soul,  is  the  spiritual  man  born  and  living. 

This  knowledge,  this  desire,  is  offered  to  all.  Coming 
down  from  heaven,  it  seeks  an  entrance  into  every  mind. 
But  it  enters,  it  can  enter,  only  where  there  is  a  willingness 
to  receive  it. 

The  conclusion  which  we  reach,  the  conclusion  of  most 
direct  and  important  bearing  upon  the  subject  of  this  chapter, 
—  the  miracles  of  the  Gospels,  —  is  this.  Where  the  super- 
natural faculties  of  the  soul,  and  what  we  may  call  the  super- 
natural interests  of  the  soul,  are  not  living  and  awake  ;  where 
they  have  no  influence  upon  belief,  life  or  duty ;  where  there 
is  no  actual  belief  of  a  God  who  is  far  above  nature,  and  has 
given  us  His  "Word  as  a  Sun  to  shine  from  Him  in  heaven 
down  upon  our  natural  life,  —  there  cannot  be  any  recogni- 
tion of  the  supernatural  in  religion,  or  in  science  ;  or  any  ex- 
planation of  any  forces  or  any  occurrences  whether  common 
or  uncommon,  customary  or  exceptional,  by  any  reference  to 
any  thing  that  is  more  or  other  than  nature. 


THE  DIVINE  MERCY.  181 

Long  ages  ago  it  was  said,  "  He  hath  no  form  nor  comeli- 
ness ;  and  when  we  see  Him,  no  beauty  that  we  should 
desire  Him.  He  is  despised  and  rejected  of  men."  This 
was  a  prophecy  concerning  Him  who  was  to  be  the  Word 
made  Flesh,  and  it  is  an  everlasting  truth  concerning  every 
mode  and  every  degree  in  which  Divine  Wisdom  offers  itself 
to  the  natural  man,  that  it  may  become  in  him  his  own  human 
wisdom.  He  may  accept  the  blessing,  and  permit  it  to  lift  his 
whole  being  from  the  ground.  He  may  refuse  it ;  and  if  un- 
belief and  denial  of  the  supernatural  are  fixed  and  indurated 
in  him,  he  must  reject  it.  For,  to  him  it  can  have  no  form 
nor  comeliness  ;  and  when  he  sees  it,  no  beauty  that  he  should 
desire  it ;  it  must  be  despised  and  rejected  by  him. 

Therefore,  such  persons,  however  learned  and  intelligent  in 
natural  knowledge,  or  blameless  in  all  external  act,  can  have 
no  actual  belief  in  the  existence  or  operation  of  a  God,  or  of 
His  ministers.  They  cannot  believe  the  miracles.  To  them 
they  must  be,  either  falsities,  or  natural  events.  They  can- 
not believe  them  in  any  honest,  or  religious,  or  useful  way. 
For  them  the  supernatural  is  nothing.  In  them  it  has  no 
life,  no  influence,  no  instruction,  for  knowledge,  for  religion, 
for  thought,  or  for  life. 

They  cannot  believe  the  miracles ;  and  it  is  well  for  them 
that  they  cannot.  It  is  of  the  mercy  of  the  God  whom  they 
reject,  that  they  are  guarded  from  this  belief.  For  if  it  were 
forced  upon  them,  forced  into  minds  which  had  no  aptitude 
for  it,  and  offered  it  no  welcome,  in  the  first  moment  of  a 
recovered  freedom  they  would  reject  the  unwelcomed  truth, 
and  fall  into  deeper  darkness  and  unhappiness.  "  They  seeing 
see  not ;  and  hearing  they  hear  not ;  neither  do  they  under- 
stand ;  and  in  them  is  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  Esaias,  which 
saith,  by  hearing  ye  shall  hear,  and  not  understand ;  and  see- 
ing ye  shall  see,  and  not  perceive :  for  this  people's  heart  is 
waxed  gross,  and  their  ears  are  dull  of  hearing,  and  their  eyes 
they  have  closed ;  lest  at  any  time  they  should  see  with  their 


182  THE   WORD  MIRACLE. 

eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears,  and  understand  with  their 
hearts,  and  should  turn  about,  and  I  should  heal  them."  — 
Matt.  xiii.  15. 

It  is  of  His  infinite  love,  that  He  does  not  heal,  —  it  is  of 
the  perfect  order  of  His  infinite  wisdom,  that  He  cannot  heal, 
j  —  those  whom  He  cannot  make  willing  to  be  healed,  i 

OF   THE   "WORD   MIRACLE. 

The  word  "  miracle  "  does  not  occur  in  our  received  trans- 
lations of  Matthew.  It  occurs  once  in  Luke,  xxiii.  8 ;  and 
twice  in  Mark.  In  chap.  vi.  52,  it  is  in  italics,  showing  that 
it  was  not  in  the  original,  but  was  supplied  by  the  translators. 
In  chap.  ix.  39,  where  it  is  said,  "  For  there  is  no  man  which 
shall  do  a  miracle  in  my  name,  that  can  speak  lightly  of  me," 
the  phrase  in  the  Greek  is,  "  poiesei  dunamin,"  literally,  "  do 
(or  exert)  power,"  the  word  there,  and  there  only,  translated 
miracle,  meaning  simply  and  precisely  power  or  force. 
In  John,  this  word  occurs  eleven  times.  It  is  always  a 
translation  of  the  Greek  word  "  semeion,"  as  it  is  in  Luke 
xxiii. ;  and  this  word  means  simply  and  precisely  a  sign. 

But  this  Greek  word  is  very  frequent  in  all  the  other 
Gospels ;  and  is  always  in  them  (with  the  single  exception  in 
Luke)  translated  not  by  "miracle,"  but  by  "sign."  As, 
Matthew  xvi.  3,  "  Can  ye  not  discern  the  signs  of  the  times  ?  " 
And  in  the  next  verse,  "  A  wicked  and  adulterous  generation 
seeketh  after  a  sign,  and  there  shall  no  sign  be  given  unto  it 
but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas."  So,  chap.  xxiv.  24,  it  is 
said,  false  prophets  shall  show  great  "  signs."  And  the  same 
thing  is  said  in  Mark  xiii.  22.  So  in  the  last  chapter  of 
Mark,  verse  17  :  "  These  signs  shall  follow  them  that  believe ; " 
and  three  verses  later,  "  The  Lord,  confirming  the  word  with 
signs  following."  So  in  Luke  xxi.  41,  "And  great  signs 
should  there  be  from  heaven;"  and  in  the  25th  verse  of  the 
same  chapter,  "There  shall  be  signs  in  the  sun,  moon  and 
stars." 


THE   WORD   SIGN.  183 

In  all  these  instances,  the  word  translated  "  sign "  is  the 
same  word  which  in  John  is  translated  "  miracle."  In  some 
of  them  it  would  read  very  strangely  to  us,  if  it  were  trans- 
lated miracle,  while  in  others  it  might  as  well  be  so 
translated  as  in  John.  And  in  the  Gospel  of  John,  the  same 
word  is  sometimes  translated  "signs,"  as  in  chap.  iv.  48, 
"■  Except  ye  see  signs  and  miracles,  ye  will  not  believe ; " 
(the  word  "miracle"  being  here  a  translation  of  another 
Greek  word,  scarcely  used  elsewhere,  and  meaning  "  wonder " 
or  "  miracle,"  which  "  semeion  does  not ")  and  in  chap.  xx. 
30,  "And  many  other  signs  truly  did  Jesus;"  chap.  i.  18, 
"  What  sign  showest  thou  us  ?  "  and  chap.  vi.  30,  "  What  sign 
showest  thou  them  ?  "  In  all  of  these  instances  there  would 
seem  no  reason  whatever  why  the  word  "  semeion  "  should  not 
be  translated  as  it  is  elsewhere  in  this  gospel,  by  the  word 
miracle.  Nor  indeed  have  I  been  able  to  discover  any  reason 
which  the  translators  had,  or  any  principle  which  led  them,  to 
translate  this  same  word  in  these  different  ways,  not  only  in 
the  different  gospels,  but  in  the  same  gospel.  It  may  be  said, 
"  ^Yhy  should  not  the  word  '  semeion '  be  translated  as  well 
by  *  miracle '  as  by  '  sign,'  when  they  mean  the  same  thing  ?  " 
But  they  do  not  mean  the  same  thing ;  nor  should  we  think 
so,  were  we  not  accustomed  to  this  use  of  the  words ;  and  it 
may  well  be  doubted  now,  whether  one  who  reads  the  gospels 
only  in  English,  knows  or  supposes  that  when  he  reads  the 
word  "sign,"  and  when  he  reads  the  word  "miracle,"  he 
is  reading  the  same  word. 

I  have  stated  all  this  somewhat  minutely,  because  it  has  a 
bearing  upon  the  signification  not  only  of  the  word  "  miracle," 
but  upon  the  thing  itself.  A  miracle  has  a  twofold  aspect ; 
one  is  negative,  and  the  other  is  positive.  It  presents  its 
negative  aspect,  when  we  ask  what  it  is  not.  It  presents 
its  positive  aspect,  when  we  ask  what  it  is.  We  look  at  its 
negative  aspect,  when  we  regard  it  as  not  a  thing  which  has 
ever  happened  before;  or  as  an  effect  which  has  not  been 


184  BELIEF  IN  A  MIRACLE. 

produced  before ;  or  as  a  thing  which  could  not  happen,  or  an 
effect  which  could  not  be  produced,  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
nature,  or  by  the  operation  of  any  known  forces  of  nature. 
We  look  at  its  positive  aspect,  when  we  regard  it  as  signifi- 
cant ;  as  something  which  has  taken  place  to  indicate,  or 
teach,  or  prove,  some  needed  religious  truth.  Considered 
negatively,  a  miracle  is  a  wonder  ;  considered  positively,  it  is 
a  sign. 

The  word  miracle  is  one  of  the  many  words  we  have 
adopted  from  the  Latin,  and  is  but  the  English  form  of  the 
word  " miraculum"  which  is  a  substantive  formed  from  a  verb 
which  means  "  to  wonder  at."  We  have  seen,  however,  that 
the  word,  in  the  original  Greek  of  the  gospels,  does  not 
express  the  idea  of  wonder,  but  is  exactly  equivalent  to 
"  sign."  In  the  Latin  Vulgate  it  is  translated  "  signum " 
(whence  our  word  "  sign ").  Indiscriminately  as  these  two 
words  have  been  used,  we  cannot  but  think  that  the  distinc- 
tion between  these  two  ideas,  "  wonderfulness  "  and  "  signifi- 
cance," is  extremely  important ;  so  important,  that  we  have, 
been  led  to  regret  that  the  word  "  semeion  "  was  not  trans- 
lated by  its  exact  equivalent,  "  sign,"  always  in  John  ;  as  it  is 
in  four  places  in  John,  and  wherever  it  occurs  in  the  other 
gospels,  with  the  exception  of  one  instance  in  Luke.  As  we 
are  unable  to  see  the  reason  why  the  word  "  miracle "  was 
used  at  all,  so  we  have  doubted  whether  more  was  not  lost 
than  gained  by  this  mistranslation. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  belief  in  a  miracle  as  "  a  wonder  " 
may  be  absolute  and  unqualified,  and  yet  be  perfectly  worth- 
less. They  who  have  no  real  belief  in  any  thing  but  natiu'e 
might,  or  rather  must,  regard  it  as  wonderful  only  because  the 
natural  laws  or  forces  which  produce  it  are  as  yet  unknown. 
It  may  be  truly  said  that  such  persons  do  not  really  believe  it 
to  be  "  a  wonder."  But  there  is  a  way  of  believing  that  it  is 
a  wonder,  which,  to  say  the  least,  is  not  useful.  We  learn 
from  the  example  of  certain  of  the  Jews,  that  it  would  be 


THE  MIRACULOUS   CONCEPTION.  185 

possible  for  persons  to  consider  the  nairacle  as  wholly  preter- 
natural, and  then  believe  that  the  power  beyond  nature  which 
produced  it  was  far  below  nature  —  was  infernal.  There 
were  some  who,  while  witnessing  the  works  of  mercy  of  our 
Lord,  could  believe  that  he  wrought  them  by  the  help  of  the 
prince  of  devils. 

But  without  considering  either  of  these  extremes,  it  is 
obvious  that  any  circumstance  or  event  which  was  regarded 
only  as  "  a  wonder,"  could  excite  in  the  mind  only  astonish- 
ment; and  astonishment  is  not  an  emotion  which  must 
necessarily  be  useful,  either  to  the  understanding  or  to  the 
affections. 

Therefore,  before  a  miracle  can  be  useful,  we  must  pass 
beyond  a  mere  regard  of  it  as  something  wonderful,  and  must 
hold  it  to  be  a  "  sign, "  —  to  be  significant ;  to  have  been 
wrought  by  a  power  that  is  more  than  nature  and  more  than 
human,  for  the  definite  purpose  of  teaching  or  proving  some 
religious  truth.  Then  it  may  be  very  useful,  indescribably 
useful ;  or  it  may  be  mischievous.  And  whether  it  shall  be 
useful  or  otherwise,  and  if  it  be  useful,  whether  it  shall  be  so 
in  a  greater  or  a  less  degree,  must  depend  upon  what  this 
^  sign  "  is  believed  to  signify,  or  upon  the  instruction  or  belief 
derived  from  it,  or  confirmed  by  it.  Let  us  then  turn  to  the 
miracles  of  Christianity,  and,  assuming  the  narratives  to  be 
true,  endeavor  to  ascertain  their  significance. 

THE   MTRACULOUS    CONCEPTION. 

Of  all  these  miracles,  the  greatest,  as  we  have  already 
said,  was  the  birth  of  our  Lord  from  a  Virgin,  who  conceived 
from  Jehovah.  It  was  the  greatest  by  every  test,  and  in 
every  sense.  It  not  only  preceded  all  the  others  in  time,  but 
may  be  said  to  imply  and  to  account  for  them  all.  If  we 
believe  that  the  Lord  God  Almighty  bowed  the  heavens  and 
came  down,  and  became  the  father  of  Jesus  Christ  in  a  way 


186  THE   MIRACULOUS   CONCEPTION. 

and  sense  perfectly  different  from  that  in  which  He  is  the 
Father  of  all  men,  we  have  here  the  largest  possible  action 
of  supernatural  power,  in,  upon  and  through  nature.  It  was 
itself  a  putting  forth  of  infinite  power,  which  implies  that 
aU  farther  or  other  exertion  of  that  power  may  and  will  be 
made,  which  can  promote  the  end  for  which  this  great  fact 
itself  took  place.  If  we  regard  it  as  a  miracle,  it  amply 
accounts  for  all  the  miracles  which  Christ  wrought,  because 
it  accounts  perfectly  for  His  full  possession  of  powers  not 
limited  by  nature,  and  which  nothing  in  nature  could  resist. 

It  is,  however,  as  a  "  sign,"  that  the  greatness  of  this  event 
is  most  important ;  for  its  significance  is  simply  infinite.  For 
of  what  is  it  a  "  sign  "  ?  The  only  answer  must  be,  it  was  a 
sign  that  the  infinite  and  eternal  Father  of  all  being  came 
down  to  earth,  and  took  upon  himself  the  nature  and  form  of 
man.  Considered  as  signifying  this,  it  includes,  or  implies, 
the  whole  work  of  Divine  love  and  infinite  power  in  leading 
men  to  heaven,  and  forever  enlarging  the  number  and  the 
happiness  of  the  angels. 

On  a  far  lower  plane,  and  with  direct  reference  to  its  im- 
mediate effects,  this  coming  down  of  the  Almighty  to  be  born 
a  man  and  walk  among  men,  must  indicate  to  every  one  who 
believes  it,  that  the  work  thus  initiated  and  prepared  for  was 
of  corresponding  magnitude.  And  while  it  is  true,  that  who- 
ever really  believes  the  birth  of  our  Lord  from  a  virgin 
mother,  as  stated  in  the  gospels,  will  believe  and  must  be- 
lieve that  the  gospels  contain  and  are  the  Word  of  God,  the 
converse  of  this  statement  is  also  true. 

Whoever  does  not  believe  that  our  Lord  has  no  human 
father  does  not  believe  the  gospels. 

In  the  first  place  this  is  so,  for  the  simple  reason  that  some 
of  the  gospels  assert  this  supernatural  birth  as  a  fact. 

But  it  is  also  true  from  the  ground,  and  cause,  and  nature 
of  this  unbelief  itself.  Whoever  calls  himself  a  Christian, 
and  accepts  the  gospels,  and  then  explains  away  and  denies 


SEASON  OF  UNBELIEF.  187 

the  statement  concerning  our  Lord's  birth,  does  so  because  its 
supernaturalness  is  to  his  mind  proof  that  this  event  did  not 
take  place.  He  thinks  it  was  not  so,  because  it  could  not 
have  been  so.  And  he  is  right,  unless  there  is  a  power  other 
than  nature,  higher  than  nature,  which  concerns  itself  with 
the  affairs  of  men,  uncontrolled  by  nature.  Nor  could  he,  if 
he  believed  the  gospels  at  all,  deny  that  our  Lord  was  bom 
of  a  virgin,  unless  he  really  did  not  believe  that  there  is  any 
such  power  higher  than  nature ;  and  this  unbelief,  therefore, 
is  the  ground  of  his  unbelief  of  our  Lord's  Divine  and 
miraculous  parentage. 

The  reason  why  this  unbelief,  resting  on  this  ground,  is 
incompatible  with  a  spiritual  or  religious  belief  of  the  gos- 
pels, is  this.  The  whole  instruction  of  the  gospels  termi- 
nates in  and  is  included  in  the  one  truth,  that  man  can  become 
good,  happy,  and  heavenly,  only  by  the  continued  action  of 
a  supernatural  power,  —  only  by  its  entering  and  abiding 
in  the  man  himself,  and  there  doing  for  him  a  work  which  he 
could  not  do  from  himself,  which  he  could  not  do  by  his 
natural  powers ;  —  which  is  in  antagonism  to  his  prevailing 
natural  tendencies  and  propensities,  —  and  which  is  not  and 
cannot  be  done  unless  by  the  help  of  this  supernatural  power. 
This  work  cannot  be  done  in  those  in  whom  a  desire  that  it 
should  be  done  cannot  be  kindled.  When  this  desire  exists, 
it  brings  with  it  some  consciousness  that  the  work  desired  is 
beyond  their  own  strength,  or,  in  other  words,  that  it  is  a 
supernatural  work,  to  be  wrought  only  by  supernatural  aid ; 
and  this  consciousness  leads  to  some  looking  at  the  revela- 
tions which  God  has  made  as  disclosing  the  means  and 
methods  of  reform. 

The  eternal  happiness  of  man  arises  from  and  is  meant  by 
his  salvation  from  sin.  He  cannot  be  saved  from  sin  by  his 
own  unassisted  strength.  He  cannot  be  saved  from  sin,  im- 
less  he,  in  his  own  freedom,  co-operates  with  the  Divine 
effort  to  save  him.     But  this  Divine  effort  was  most  put  forth 


188  FOUNDING   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

in  the  miraculous  conception,  and  was  then  and  therein  put 
forth  in  a  manner  which  gives  their  greatest  efficiency  to  all 
the  other  effiarts  of  God  for  the  salvation  of  man.  To  reject 
this,  therefore,  would  seem  to  be  the  rejection  of  the  centre 
and  heart  of  all  the  Divine  eflPorts  for  man.  Such  rejection 
must,  therefore,  make  it  difficult  —  we  are  far  from  saying 
impossible  —  for  him  who  casts  this  truth  away,  to  profit 
by,  or  to  co-operate  with,  those  other  effi)rts  which  infinite 
Love  is  ever  making  to  save  us  from  our  sins  with  our  own 
consent. 


THE   FOUNDING   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

The  next  greatest  miracle  of  Christianity  is  Christianity 
itself;  or,  the  founding,  the  life,  and  the  growth  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church. 

Here,  as  always,  by  a  miracle  we  mean  a  working  of 
supernatural  power  by  unusual  means  for  religious  instruction 
or  religious  influence.  And  in  this  as  in  all,  the  Divine 
working  is  so  directed  and  so  tempered  as  to  do  for  man  all 
that  can  be  done,  without  destroying  his  freedom  ;  and  this 
freedom  is  always  preserved,  for  the  reason  that  when  it  is 
lost,  nothing  more  can  be  done  for  the  man's  growth  in  good- 
ness. 

Hence,  there  is  no  miracle  which  compels  conviction,  and 
makes  denial  impossible.  And  therefore  there  have  always 
been  and  always  will  be  thinking  persons,  who,  believing  in 
nothing  higher  than  nature,  and  in  no  powers  higher  than 
human  powers,  work  out  as  well  as  they  can  the  coming  and 
tlie  development  of  Christianity,  as  one  in  the  series  of 
events  which  successively  appear  in  the  evolution  of  the  forces 
of  nature. 

It  does  not  lie  within  our  present  purpose  —  which  is  to 
treat  of  the  miracles  related  in  the  gospels  —  to  consider  the 
establishment  of  Christianity.     We  would,  however,  notice 


GROWTH  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  189 

the  fact,  that  in  these  days  efforts  are  made  by  men  who, 
as  far  as  we  have  any  means  of  judging,  are  good  and  re- 
ligious men,  to  explain  and  account  for  the  wide  reception  of 
Christianity  among  the  nations  in  the  first  centuries,  by  refer- 
ences to  the  condition  of  the  religious  faith  of  mankind,  by 
peculiarities  of  external  circumstances,  and  the  apparent  prep- 
aration for  a  ready  acceptance  of  a  new  faith.  The  hinder- 
ances  in  the  way,  the  violent  conflict  between  Christianity  and 
the  world,  the  persecutions  and  perils  of  the  early  Christians, 
are  admitted ;  but  the  attempt  is  made  to  show  how  these 
obstructions  were  overcome,  and  immense  progress  made  in 
defiance  of  them,  from  natural  and  external  causes.  The  er- 
ror, or  what  we  consider  the  error,  lies,  not  in  the  investigation 
of  these  causes,  nor  in  allowing  them  all  their  force ;  but  in 
ignoring  altogether  the  supernatural  element,  or  the  Divine 
assistance,  which  gave  efficacy  to  those  causes,  and  may  be 
discovered  by  one  who  studies  this  history  without  closing  his 
mind  to  the  evidence  and  to  the  characteristics  of  this  assist- 
ance. If  these  writers  believed  that  Christianity  itself  is 
supernatural,  if  they  believed  that  our  Lord  and  His  works 
were  supernatural,  it  would  seem  that  they  might  not  have 
considered  it  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  the  same  supernat- 
ural agency  was  continued  as  long  as  was  necessary,  and  was 
put  forth  in  such  forms  and  such  degrees  as  were  required, 
that  the  work  begun  by  our  Lord's  life  on  earth  should  be  ac- 
complished and  not  defeated.  It  is  a  sign  of  the  times  that 
no  definite  acknowledgment  of  Providential  action  appears  in 
the  most  recent  writers  on  the  early  history  of  Christianity. 
So  far  as  I  know,  we  find  it,  since  Neander,  nowhere.  Nor 
can  I  use  the  word  "  providential,"  and  refrain  from  express- 
ing that  universal  truth,  without  which  history  is  an  insoluble 
riddle,  and  life  a  burden,  —  the  truth  that  every  thing  is  pro- 
vidential ;  that  all  events  are  equally  so,  because  all  are  abso- 
lutely and  most  actually  so ;  that  in  every  occurrence  in  the 
world's  life  and  in  the  life  of  every  man,  are  infinite  love, 


190  THE  BEGINNING   OF  MIRACLES. 

wisdom  and  power.  All  are  always  there,  but  not  always 
equally  visible ;  for  there  is  a  difference  in  the  methods  of 
this  Divine  action.  For  the  most  .part  our  Father  acts  in 
customary  ways  and  by  customary  means,  in  such  wise  as  to 
leave  to  man  that  freedom  of  acting /rom  God,  but  of  himself, 
which  is  the  foundation  of  human  existence  and  personality, 
and  permits  us  to  "  work  out  our  own  salvation ; "  and  then 
He  is  withdrawn  from  the  light  of  eyes  so  dim  and  veiled  as 
our  own.  Sometimes,  however,  His  guidance  of  events  in 
history  and  in  personal  life  is  so  obviously  directed  for  a  mer- 
ciful purpose,  that  they  who  have  not  lost  all  knowledge 
of  Him,  see  and  acknowledge  His  providence  in  His  work,  and 
Him  in  it.  And  sometimes  He  puts  forth  His  power  in  so 
new  and  strange  a  way,  as  to  force  a  recognition  of  Him  from 
all  who  have  not  obliterated  in  their  minds  all  capacity  of 
belief ;  and  then  we  call  it  "  a  miracle."  In  the  heavens  they 
see,  and  know,  at  all  times.  His  presence  and  His  action  ;  as 
we  here  see  the  sun  at  noonday,  and  feel  its  warmth,  and 
rejoice  in  its  light.  And  how  much  of  the  inconceivable  hap- 
piness of  heaven  springs  from  this  constant  certainty,  this 
undimmed  perception ! 


THE   BEGINNING   OP  MIRACLES. 

1  And  the  third  day  there  was  a  marriage  in  Cana  of  Gralilee ;  and 
the  mother  of  Jesus  was  there. 

2  And  both  Jesus  was  called,  and  his  disciples,  to  the  marriage. 

8  And  when  they  wanted  wine,  the  mother  of  Jesus  saith  unto  him, 
They  have  no  wine. 

4  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  thee  1  mine 
hour  is  not  yet  come. 

6  His  mother  saith  unto  the  servants.  Whatsoever  he  saith  unto 
you,  do  it. 

6  And  there  were  set  there  six  water-pots  of  stone,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  purifying  of  the  Jews,  containing  two  or  three  firkins 
apiece. 


WHENCE  ITS  NAME.  191 

7  Jesus  saith  unto  tlietn,  Fill  the  water-pots  with  water.  And  they 
filled  them  up  to  the  brim. 

8  And  he  saith  unto  them.  Draw  out  now,  and  bear  unto  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  feast.    And  they  bare  it. 

9  When  the  ruler  of  the  feast  had  tasted  the  water  that  was  made 
wine,  and  knew  not  whence  it  was,  (but  the  servants  which  drew  the 
water  knew,)  the  governor  of  the  feast  called  the  bridegroom, 

10  And  saith  unto  him.  Every  man  at  the  beginning  doth  set  forth 
good  wine ;  and  when  men  have  well  drunk,  then  that  which  is  worse  : 
but  thou  hast  kept  the  good  wine  until  now. 

11  This  beginmng  of  miracles  did  Jesus  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and 
manifested  forth  his  glory ;  and  his  disciples  beUeved  on  him.  John  ii. 
1-11. 

The  order  of  time  in  which  the  miracles  of  our  Lord  were 
performed  is  not  clearly  indicated.  That  above  related 
was  called  "  this  beginning  of  miracles."  It  was  so  called, 
and  was  in  fact  an  apt  introduction  to  the  rest,  because  it 
describes  that  change  or  work  which  is  a  necessary  condition 
of  every  internal  miracle ;  and  because  it  contains  within 
itself  instruction  concerning  the  one  infinite  end  and  purpose 
of  all  miracles.  As  a  miracle  is  a  direct  exercise  of  the 
power  of  God  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  or  suggesting  spirit- 
ual truth,  so  this  miracle  which  took  place  at  the  marriage  in 
Cana  in  Galilee  is  the  first  miracle,  because  it  describes  and 
exhibits  tmder  the  similitude  of  external  events,  this  giving 
of  spiritual  truth,  and  the  circumstances  which  make  this 
giving  possible. 

To  find  this  meaning  there,  we  must  of  course  go  to  the 
spiritual  sense.  The  narrative  relates  a  series  of  visible 
events.  We  ask  of  it  to  present  to  us  a  series  of  inter- 
nal and  spiritual  events.  We  can  do  so  if  we  believe 
that  the  external  world,  in  the  whole  and  in  every  part,  cor- 
responds to  and  represents  that  which  is  of  the  spirit ;  and 
if  we  farther  believe  that  the  Word  of  God  is  so  called, 
because  it  consists  of  truth  descending  from  Him,  and  through 
divine  influence  upon  the  agents  employed  embodied  in  such 
forms  and  statements,  that  this  correspondence  between  the 


192  TEE  MARRIAGE  AT  CAN  A. 

natural  and  spiritual  gives  to  the  whole  a  natural  sense, 
which  is  not  always  literally  true,  but  which  contains  within 
it  an  entire,  orderly  and  consistent  spiritual  sense. 

There  was  a  marriage.  The  marriage  of  a  man  with  a 
woman  represents  the  union  of  truth  with  good ;  of  wisdom 
with  love  ;  or  natural  marriage  represents  spiritual  marriage. 
And  a  spiritual  marriage  in  the  mind  occurs  when  we  love 
that  which  we  know  to  be  true ;  for  then  the  will  and  the 
understanding  become  one.  The  whole  discipline  of  Provi- 
dence consists,  first,  in  teaching  us  that  truth  which  is  best 
adapted  to  lift  us  from  our  natural  condition  ;  and  next,  in 
leading  us  to  love  that  truth,  and  hate  and  leave  the  evils 
which  it  rebukes.  Hence  the  sanctity  of  marriage  ;  and  the 
frequent  reference  to  it  in  the  Bible  as  a  very  holy  thing. 
"VMien  truth  and  love  are  thus  united  in  the  mind,  w^e  have 
within  us  that  marriage  which  is  meant  by  marriage  in  the 
Word,  in  tlie  many  places  in  which  it  is  mentioned :  this, 
or  its  exact  opposite.  And  it  is  always  easy  to  infer  from 
the  subject-matter  and  the  context,  whether  the  marriage 
is  one  of  good  to  the  truth  it  loves,  or  of  evil  to  the  falsity 
which  inculcates  or  defends  it.  For  there  is  a  marriage, 
or  something  which  simulates  a  marriage,  between  the  evil 
and  the  false.  And  marriage,  even  if  it  have  a  good  signifi- 
cance, is  of  many  kinds.  Of  the  character  of  the  marriage 
mentioned  in  this  miracle,  we  may  judge  from  the  indications. 
It  took  place  in  Cana  in  Galilee ;  the  mother  of  Jesus  was 
there.  Jesus  and  his  disciples  were  invited  there.  Why  are 
these  things  thus  minutely  related  in  the  Word  of  God  ? 

At  that  time  Palestine  was  under  the  dominion  of  Rome  ; 
and  Galilee  formed  its  north-eastern  province,  lying  between 
the  Lake  of  Gennesaret  and  the  Mediterranean.  It  was  pop- 
ulous and  prosperous  ;  but  its  inhabitants  were  derived  from 
many  sources.  Some  of  them  were  Jews  ;  but  there  were 
many  from  surrounding  nations,  among  whom  Egyptians, 
Arabians  and  Phenicians  were  especially  numerous.     The 


JESUS  AND  HIS  DISCIPLES.  193 

Jews  of  Judea  despised  them,  and  the  name  by  which  the 
province  was  usually  known  was  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles. 
It  was  here  that  our  Lord  performed  a  very  large  part  of  his 
ministry,  for  the  same  reason  probably  which  caused  the 
first  miracle  to  be  performed  there.  He  came  then,  as  He 
comes  again  now,  to  establish  a  new  church  ;  to  establish 
it  then,  as  now,  among  the  ruins  of  a  church  which  false 
doctrines  have  perverted  and  destroyed.  And  then  as  now, 
Jill  spiritual  truth  must  first  be  taught  to  them  who  are  Gen- 
tile, in  so  far  that  they  do  not  cling  to  the  desolated  church  ; 
and  yet  to  those  Gentiles  who  are  not  without  the  limits 
of  the  Holy  Land.  And  new  and  spiritual  truth  can  be  taught 
only  to  that  part  of  our  minds  which  is  what  Galilee  denotes, 
in  that  it  is  in  some  degree  free  from  the  influence  of  the 
surrounding  and  prevailing  falsities  of  a  perverted  church, 
and  yet  has  not  freed  itself  from  these,  by  wandering  far  from 
the  temple  and  making  its  abode  in  a  country  which  knows 
not  Zion. 

The  mother  of  Jesus  was  there.  That  mother,  who 
embodied  and  represented  all  that  was  natural  in  man,  and 
therefore  could  supply  to  our  Lord  a  humanity  adapted  to 
the  work  he  came  to  do.  This  work  of  regeneration  requires 
as  its  first  essential  that  the  conduct  be  reformed,  and  the 
outer  life  made  better  by  repentance  and  regeneration  in  act ; 
and  therefore  this  external  and  natural  basis  of  all  life  must 
be  present  in  Galilee  and  at  this  marriage,  if  the  work  which 
the  Lord  ever  strives  to  do,  is  then  and  there  to  be  begun. 

But  Jesus  and  his  disciples  were  called  to  this  marriage : 
and  this  is  the  conclusive,  the  indispensable  condition.  If  He 
is  called,  he  cometh.  If  He  and  his  disciples  or  the  truths 
and  principles  which  serve  him  and  promote  his  influence, 
are  invited  to  the  marriage  in  our  minds  of  what  we  believe 
with  what  we  love,  conflict  between  the  faith  and  the  afiec- 
tions  is  about  to  cease,  because  they  will  become  one.  This 
is  the  effect  of  his  influence.      It  is  precisely  what  he  is 

13 


194  THREE  WAYS   OF  BEING   GOOD. 

always  endeavoring  to  do,  and  always  does  so  far  as  we  per- 
mit and  desire.  "We  must  however  desire  it.  We  must  in- 
vite Jesus  and  his  disciples  to  this  marriage.  And  then  the 
mother  of  Jesus,  or  our  human  and  external  nature,  will  have 
a  consciousness  and  a  perception  that  spiritual  truth  is 
needed,  and  will  go  to  him  and  tell  him  of  the  want.  By 
"  wine  "  is  meant  spiritual  truth. 

Already  have  we  said  more  than  once,  that  all  things  in 
this  world  are,  and  exist  only  because  they  are,  cprrespond- 
ences  and  representatives  of  things  of  the  spirit.  Now  there 
are  three  liquids  frequently  spoken  of  in  the  Word.  They 
are  water,  wine,  and  oil.  All  represent  and  denote  truth,  or 
that  which  belongs  to  the  understanding.  But  each  repre- 
sents its  own  class  of  truths  and  only  that. 
(  Perhaps  as  easy  a  way  as  any  to  illustrate  this,  is  by 
/saying  that  there  are  three  ways  in  which  a  man  may  be 
(good.  One  is,  by  obeying  the  truth  from  a  mere  principle 
\  of  obedience  to  truth  or  law.  Another  and  a  higher  is,  by 
obeying  the  truth  from  a  love  of  the  truth,  although  the 
obedience  is  hard  because  the  truth  rebukes  sins  that  are 
loved.  The  third  and  highest  is  by  living  the  truth  because 
it  is  loved,  and  the  good  which  the  truth  expresses  is  loved, 
while  the  evils  which  it  opposes  are  hated.  There  is  then 
no  labor  in  living  thus ;  there  is  nothing  but  peace  and  happi- 
ness. 

These  three  ways  of  being  good  are  perfectly  distinct,  one 
from  the  other.  They  are  founded  in  the  nature  of  things, 
and  beyond  this ;  in  the  divine  nature  itself;  and  to  one  or 
the  other  of  them  all  goodness  must  be  referred. 

Swedenborg  gives  to  them  the  names  of  Natural  good, 
Spiritual  good,  and  Heavenly  good,  and  we  have  already  re- 
ferred to  this  in  treating  of  the  spiritual  world.  Each  of 
them  tias  its  appropriate  truth.  That  is,  there  is  a  kind  of 
truth  which  teaches  and  leads  to  natural  good,  and  whicli 
they  who  are  in  natural  goodness  receive  and  comprehend ; 


TEE  MOTEER   OF  JESUS.  195 

so  also  there  is  spiritual  truth,  which  teaches  and  leads  to 
spiritual  good;  and  so  also  there  is  heavenly  truth,  which 
teaches  and  leads  to  heavenly  good. 

It  may  be  better  to  explain  more  fully  the  diiference  and 
relation  between  these,  in  connection  with  subsequent  texts. 
Now  only  remarking  that  water  is  the  general  correspond- 
ent and  representative  of  external  or  natural  truth,  or 
the  truth  which  makes  a  man  good  by  the  principle  of  obe- 
dience ;  wine  of  spiritual  truth,  or  the  truth  which  makes 
a  man  good  because  he  knows  that  truth  tells  him  what  is 
right,  and  he  loves  truth  so  well,  that  he  will  listen  to  its 
voice,  at  whatever  cost ;  and  oil  of  heavenly  truth,  or  the 
truth  which  helps  a  man  to  be  good,  because  it  helps  him  to 
see  more  clearly  the  good  which  he  loves  above  all  things. 
"Water,  wine  and  oil  are  constantly  referred  to  in  this  way 
and  with  this  meaning,  in  the  Bible. 

The  mother  of  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  They  have  no  wine. 
And  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  What  have  I  to  do  with  thee  ?  or, 
more  literally  translated.  What  is  there  to  thee  and  to  me  ?  or, 
What  is  there  which  is  common  to  thee  and  to  me  ?  This 
question  is  that  in  which  the  divine  influence  within  us 
answers  the  earliest  feeling  of  destitution  of  spiritual  truth, 
which  stirs  in  the  beginning  of  regenerate  life.  It  is  prompted 
by  the  beginning  of  this  new  life  within  us ;  and  it  asks  of 
our  old  nature,  and  of  the  habits  and  inclinations  which  com- 
pose it.  What  have  they  in  common  with  the  new  life  which 
we  desire  and  seek  ? 

But  the  good  influence  within  does  not  stop  there.  After 
inspiring  in  us  a  consciousness  that  this  destitution  of  spirit- 
ual truth  springs  from  the  opposition  between  our  own  re- 
generate nature  and  all  goodness,  it  proceeds  to  point  out 
that  which  wUl  lessen  this  opposition,  and  begin  to  supply  this 
destitution. 

"  And  there  were  set  there  six  water-pots  of  stone,  after 
the  manner  of  the  purifying  of  the  Jews." 


196  THE   THREE   CHURCHES. 

It  is  the  universal  and  perpetual  offer  of  the  Divine 
Providence  to  purify  man,  or  cleanse  him  from  his  sins.  All 
things  which  exist  are  his  instruments  for  that  infinite  and 
eternal  purpose.  But  by  far  the  chief  among  these  instru- 
ments is  a  church;  for  every  church  is  founded  and  pre- 
served in  existence  while  it  answers  this  very  purpose,  and  is 
taken  away  from  the  earth,  when  it  ceases  to  be  able  to  effect 
this  purpose. 

There  have  been  many  churches  on  earth ;  and  there  are 
many  now ;  and  each  has  its  own  method  of  promoting  the 
purpose  which  is  common  to  them  all ;  for  each  has  its  own 
"  manner  of  purifying."  Of  all  the  churches  which  are  or 
have  been,  the  three  most  important  are  the  Jewish,  the 
Christian,  and  the  New  Jerusalem  Church.  And  these  are 
connected  together,  and  stand  in  a  regular  sequence ;  and  hold 
to  each  other  the  relation  of  natural,  spiritual  and  heavenly. 

The  Jewish  Scriptures  command  a  perfectly  good  external 
life  ;  and  in  general,  the  Jewish  law  in  its  literal  sense  was 
confined  to  external  things.  It  was  also  sustained  and  enforced 
by  external  sanctions,  as  the  terrors  of  war,  captivity,  disease, 
or  death ;  and  it  was  proved  only  by  external  evidence,  as 
the  miracles  of  Egypt,  and  of  Sinai,  and  those  which  made 
evident  the  interposition  of  Omnipotence  at  different  points 
of  their  history.  In  few  words,  it  was  a  church  of  and  for 
the  external,  natural  man. 

This  was  necessary,  because  this  external  nature  of  man 
must  be  cleansed  from  sin  by  repentance  and  reformation 
before  there  is  any  place  or  welcome  or  hope  for  any  thing 
higher.  Cease  to  do  evil,  and  learn  to  do  well,  is  the  com- 
mand. The  first  thing  is  the  cessation  from  evil.  And  it  is 
not  more  impossible  for  a  man  to  take  one  step  an  hundred 
feet  forward  from  where  he  now  stands,  than  it  is  for  him  to 
step  forward  spiritually,  unless  there  be  the  beginning,  at 
least,  of  cessation  from  evil. 

The  Jewish  law  required  this ;  but  it  required  it  by  an 


FILL   THEM  TO   THE  BRIM.  197 

external  or  natural  law.  The  ten  commandments  constitute 
this  law,  in  one  summary.  What  they  demand  is  implicit  I 
obedience,  and  the  avoidance  of  all  evil  conduct.  When  this  I 
is  accomplished,  or  when  there  is  a  real  beginning  of  this, 
with  an  earnest  desire  for  its  thorough  fulfilment,  then  is  the 
outer  life  "  purified,"  and  then  is  the  man  ready  to  look  into 
tlie  grounds  of  obedience,  and  to  endeavor  to  avoid  all  inter- 
nal sins,  and  seek  after  interior  improvement. 

As  all  things  in  the  mind  of  man  refer  either  to  the  wiU 
or  the  understanding,  and  each  thing  in  its  own  way ;  so  all 
the  things  in  the  external  universe  refer  to  and  represent 
something  of  the  will  or  something  of  the  understanding,  and 
this  with  infinite  variety.  The  purifying  vessels  of  the  Jews 
were  of  stone,  and  stone  represents  in  its  own  way  natural 
and  external  truth ;  and  they  were  filled  only  with  and  used 
only  for  water ;  only  for  the  correspondent  and  representa- 
tive of  the  truths  which  compose  the  law  given  to  them  and 
to  all  who  would  be  taught  how  to  begin  to  be  good.  He 
bade  them  fill  the  water-pots  with  water  and  they  filled  them 
to  the  brim. 

They  also  who  seek  to  obey  his  commandments,  will,  under 
his  influence,  fill  them  to  the  brim.  They  will  amplify  their 
meaning,  and  seek  rather  to  enlarge  than  to  diminish  their 
scope.  They  will  endeavor,  not  to  save  this  or 'the  other  dar- 
ling sin  from  their  rebuke,  but  to  bring  all  their  errors  and 
all  their  frailties  within  their  cleansing  influence.  And  then 
will  Jesus  convert  this  water  into  wine.  The  laws  they  have 
obeyed  will  no  longer  stand  before  them  as  merely  external 
and  natural  commandments,  but  will  be  felt  within  them  as 
internal  and  spiritual  commandments.  They  will  then  seek 
not  only  to  give  these  laws  their  widest  scope,  but  to  discern 
the  light  of  their  higher  meaning. 

There  is  scarcely  any  limit  to  the  illustrations  which  may 
be  given  of  these  three  degrees,  because  they  are  universal, 
and  found  in  all  things  and  all  relations.     The  aspect  of  these 


tl 


198  TEJS  JEWISH  CHURCH. 

degrees  presented  by  successive  churches,  to  which  allusions 
have  already  been  made,  is  that  which  most  concerns  our  pres- 
ent tojjic,  and  we  will  now  endeavor  to  present  this  topic 
more  fully. 
\  There  were  many  churches  before  the  Jewish ;  succeeding 
I  each  other  through  countless  ages.  Their  characteristic  quali- 
ties are  referred  to  in  the  earlier  chapters  of  Genesis,  which, 
as  a  narrative  of  external  historical  events,  are  without  litei'al 
truth,  until  the  immediate  ancestors  of  Abraham. 

He  was  the  progenitor  of  a  great  nation.  His  grand- 
son removed  to  Egypt  with  his  children,  and  there  his 
descendants  multiplied  xmtil  they  were  called  forth  to  journey 
through  the  desert  to  Palestine,  and  there  to  become  a 
church.  That  is,  a  church  was  founded  amongst  them ;  and 
it  was  of  most  peculiar  character. 

In  the  first  place,  its  commandments  were  more  special  and 
complete,  and  came  down  into  all  the  duties  and  pleasures  of 
life,  as  well  as  all  the  ceremonies  of  religion,  in  a  degree 
which  nothing  elsewhere  existing  on  earth  at  all  approached. 
In  a  word,  every  thing  the  Jew  was  to  do  or  be,  was  pre- 
scribed to  him  precisely. 

In  the  second  place,  the  evidence  which  sustained  this  dis- 
pensation was  purely  external,  visible,  tangible,  and  never  to 
be  mistaken.  ■  It  was  Sinai,  with  its  sounds  and  sights  of 
terror,  and  it  was  the  blessing  promised  and  given  as  far  as 
it  could  be,  and  the  curse  threatened,  and  finally  fulfilled 
throughout  the  ages.  But  neither  hope  nor  fear  was  invited 
to  look  beyond  the  grave- 
In  the  next  place,  its  doctrines  were  purely  external,  or 
natural.  So  far  as  belief  was  concerned,  it  was  but  one 
doctrine;  and  that  was  the  being,  the  perfection,  and  the 
absolute  unity  of  God.  But  there  was  no  instruction  given 
concerning  another  life,  and  even  the  fact  of  this  other  life 
was  not  distinctly  stated. 

In  all  this,  it  represents  exactly  the  first,  or  natural  good- 


OBEDIENCE.  199 

ness  within  a  man ;  for  that  is  goodness  of  conduct  only. 
This  is  the  absolute  essential  of  progress ;  it  is  the  first  step, 
without  which  there  can  be  no  second  step ;  but  it  is  itself, 
only  a  first  step.  And  it  may  be  goodness,  or  only  the  form  of 
goodness ;  for  that  depends  upon  the  motive  within. 

So  the  doctrine  of  faith  is  the  first  that  gives  light  to  the 
mind,  when  the  spirit  of  God  moves  over  the  face  of  the 
waters  and  the  darkness  which  lay  upon  them  begins  to  be 
illuminated.  The  first  day  of  the  soul  is  described  by  the 
first  clause  of  the  perfect  prayer;  Our  Father  who  art  in 
heaven.  Nothing  more  is  known  or  believed;  but  this  is 
enough  to  indicate,  or  rather  to  be,  the  first  uprising  of  the 
sun  of  life. 

The  one  characteristic  of  this  church,  as  of  this  state,  is 
obedience.  There  may  be  nothing  more  than  this,  but  where 
this  is  not,  there  is  nothing.  Obedience  is  as  absolutely 
necessary  to  all  true  religious  life,  whether  of  the  highest  or 
the  lowest  kind,  as  water  is  to  natural  life.  And  water  cor- 
responds to,  represents  and  denotes  the  natural  truth,  or  the 
literal  commandments,  which  inculcate  and  guide  obedience. 
And  this  is  the  water  with  which  the  water-pots  of  the  Jews 
were  filled  to  the  brim,  for  their  manner  of  purification. 

After  the  Israelitish  or  Jewish  church  had  passed  through 
its  various  stages,  it  came  to  an  end.  There  was  need  of  a 
new  church.  Of  one  which  should  teach  and  require,  and 
therefore  should  reveal  a  new  degree  of  goodness,  a  new 
and  higher  state  of  mind  to  which  man  should  aspire.  To 
supply  this  need,  the  Christian  church  was  established.  This 
church  is  spiritual. 

To  understand  the  difference  between  a  natural  and  a 
spiritual  church,  or  between  natural  and  spiritual  goodness, 
we  have  but  to  consider  that  which  has  been  already  called 
the  simple  and  universal  law  of  all  progress,  first  from  evil 
to  good,  and  then  in  goodness. 

The  first  step,  or  rather  the  prerequisite  to  any  step,  is  to 


200  A  LOVE  OF  THE   TRUTH  ITSELF. 

know  and  recognize  the  truth.  The  first  actual  step  is 
obedience ;  obedience  to  truth  or  to  a  law ;  and  this  may 
come  from  that  "  fear  of  the  Lord,  which  is  the  beginning  of 
wisdom,"  or  from  any  external  motive  of  fear  or  of  hope 
which  Divine  Providence  has  brought  to  bear  upon  the  mind. 
By  this  obedience  one  acquires  familiarity  with  the  truth  and 
its  practical  effect,  and  a  knowledge  of  its  power  and  opera- 
tion, and  thus  is  prepared  to  take  the  next  step. 

The  second  step  is  a  conformity  to  the  truth,  from  a  love 
of  the  truth  itself,  or  a  reverence  for  its  divine  authority,  and 
not  from  a  mere  regard  to  the  consequences  of  obedience  as 
rewards,  or  to  the  effects  of  disobedience  as  punishments. 
The  truth  is  felt  to  be,  sometimes,  a  hard  master.  It  com- 
mands the  resisting  and  putting  away  of  tastes,  habits,  pro- 
pensities and  pleasures.  It  enters  into  conflict  with  the  loves 
which  still  fill  the  heart.  But  it  is  stronger  than  they.  The 
truth  itself  is  listened  to  as  the  voice  of  our  Father ;  a  love 
for  it  begins,  and  even  then  it  is  stronger  than  the  sins  which 
it  rebukes  ;  and  the  truth  is  obeyed  for  its  own  sake,  and  these 
sins  are  resisted,  not  because  they  are  not  loved,  but  because 
the  truth  is  loved  more. 

This  is  a  step  far  in  advance  of  the  former.  New  qualities 
and  powers  of  the  mind  and  heart  are  called  into  activity. 
Emotions  unknown  before,  fill  the  soul  with  happiness,  even 
in  the  midst  of  conflict  and  self-compulsion.  And  the  sense 
of  this  is  sometimes  so  powerful,  that  it  leads  the  man  to  the 
extreme  of  self-renunciation,  and,  for  the  moment,  rewards 
with  ecstasy  the  sacrifices  of  a  mistaken  asceticism. 

It  is  obvious,  that  this  state  of  mind  asks  only  to  be  certain 
of  what  is  truth,  and  needs  not  that  the  proof  should  come 
with  terror  or  enticement.  Hence,  the  revelations  of  this 
church  were  not  founded  upon  the  earthly  blessing  or  curse, 
the  promise  of  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey  or  the 
threat  of  plague  and  devastation;  but  upon  miracles,  or 
"  signs,"  which,  without  promise  or  threat,  only  taught  and 


INTEBNAL   OBEDIENCE.  201 

proved.  "  Believe  me,"  said  our  Lord,  "  for  my  works'  sake." 
And  thus  was  illustrated  the  law  of  Divine  Providence,  that 
the  very  evidence  which  is  appropriate  in  effect  and  character 
to  the  class  of  truths  which  it  substantiates,  is  provided  with 
perfect  adaptation  by  divine  wisdom. 

We  may  observe  also  the  difference  in  the  truths  taught, 
as  well  as  in  the  evidence  of  those  truths.  Where  the  pur- 
pose is  only  external  obedience,  the  truths  command  only 
external  conduct;  but  when  the  purpose  rises  to  internal 
obedience,  the  truths  rise  also  and  command  internal 
obedience. 

Our  Lord  said,  "  Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  by  them 
of  old  time.  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery ;  but  I  say  unto 
you,  that  whosoever  looketh  upon  a  woman  to  lust  after  her 
committeth  adultery  with  her  already  in  his  heart."  So  the 
command  not  to  kill,  rose  into  the  command  not  to  be 
angry ;  the  command  not  to  forswear  one's  self,  rose  into 
the  prohibition  against  any  swearing,  by  which  is  meant  that 
if  any  thing  is  needed  to  confirm  and  attest  a  simple  affirma- 
tion, this  "  cometh  of  evil,"  because  if  there  were  no  falsehood, 
nothing  more  than  yea,  yea,  or  nay,  nay,  would  ever  be 
thought  of.  So  the  command  of  exact  justice  in  retaliation,  or 
an  eye  for  an  eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,  rose  into  a  command  to 
put  all  vengeance  so  utterly  away,  as  to  resist  not  those  who 
would  take  from  us.  And  then,  to  consummate  this  change, 
the  command  to  love  the  neighbor  rose  into  the  command  to 
love  one's  enemies ;  or  to  have  no  enemies,  but  to  love  as  our 
neighbors  and  brethi*en  all  the  children  of  our  common 
Father,  who  maketh  his  sun  to  rise,  and  his  rain  to  fall  on  all 
alike,  because  He  loves  all.  And  whenever  we  find  the 
phrase  "  Ye  have  heard  of  them  of  old  time "  followed  by 
the  phrase  "  But  I  say  unto  you,"  we  read  of  the  elevation  of 
the  natural  into  the  spiritual;  of  the  water  of  the  former 
dispensation  made  into  the  wine  of  the  Gospel. 

So  also  the  whole  Jewish  religion  rose  into  the  whole 


202  WATER,    WINE,   AND   OIL. 

Christian  religion ;  so  all  the  water  of  purification  of  the 
Jewish  church  was  changed  into  the  wine  of  the  Christian 
church;  and  so  our  Lord,  in  his  first  miracle,  as  it  was 
wrought  in  his  lowest  kingdom,  the  material  world,  indicated, 
prefigured,  and  prophesied  that  which  was  the  purpose  and 
effect  of  all  His  words  and  all  His  works. 

When  near  the  close  of  His  earthly  life,  at  His  last  supper 
with  His  disciples.  He  gave  them  bread  and  wine  as  His  flesh 
and  His  blood.  The  wine  was  still  that  spiritual  truth  which 
He  came  to  give ;  and  He  instituted  that  solemn  sacrament 
at  that  solemn  hour,  because  He  was  about  to  set  the  seal  of 
His  death  to  His  covenant  with  men. 

"We  have  said  that  there  are  three  kinds  of  goodness,  and 
of  appropriate  truths,  following  in  orderly  succession,  and 
that  the  three  liquids,  water,  wine  and  oil,  correspond  to  and 
represent  them.  They  are  natural,  spiritual,  and  heavenly 
goodness  and  truth.  Of  the  first  two,  and  of  the  churches 
which  rest  on  the  revelation  of  these  two  classes  of  truths, 
I  have  spoken.  Of  the  third,  it  will  be  better  to  speak 
more  fully,  in  explanation  of  other  words,  or  other  works  of 
our  Lord  ;  and  here  only  briefly. 

As  obedience  to  truth,  if  it  be  sincere,  is  followed  by  a  love 
for  the  truth  itself,  so  this  love,  if  it  be  sincere,  and  indulged 
and  invigorated,  prepares  the  way  for  a  love  of  the  good  itself 
which  the  truth  requires.  In  other  words,  if  one,  from  a 
sincere  love  of  the  truth,  persistently  denies  all  indulgences 
of  the  evils  which  the  truth  rebukes,  —  the  pain  of  this 
denial  will  gradually  cease,  the  love  of  these  evils  will  grow 
weak  and  faint,  and  at  length  will  die,  and  the  opposite  love 
of  that  good  which  the  truth  inculcates  will  come  into  and 
possess  the  soul,  and  the  last  and  highest  kind  of  goodness, 
that  which  may  indeed  be  called  heavenly  good,  will  be 
established  in  the  mind. 

The  church,  by  means  of  which  Divine  Providence  would 
establish  this  good  in  the  mind  and  in  the  life  of  mankind,  is 


THE  LOVE   OF  GOODNESS.  203 

that  which  we  call  the  church  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  And 
every  thing  which  has  been  said  of  the  relation  of  the  two 
former  churches  to  each  other  may  now  be  said,  emphatically, 
of  this.  Let  us  now  look  at  this,  first  in  reference  to  the 
new  motives  or  affections  which  are  proper  to  this  new  church 
and  distinguish  it  from  those  which  have  preceded  it.  Next, 
as  to  the  new  truths  and  doctrines  proper  to  it.  Then,  as 
to  the  evidence  which  is  appropriate  as  the  proof  and  founda- 
tion of  tliis  and  was  not  so  of  the  others.  And  lastly,  of  one 
aspect  which  was  not  presented  before,  because  it  needed  for 
its  illustration  that  all  three  of  these  churches  should  be 
considered  together.  We  refer  to  that  mutual  necessity 
which  makes  the  second  imply,  require,  and  rest  upon  the 
first,  historically,  on  the  earth,  and  internally  in  the  mind ;  and 
the  third  imply,  require,  and  rest  upon  the  first  and  second, 
both  in  the  history  of  man  and  in  the  life  of  his  soul. 

If  we  can  imagine  a  church  which  addresses  itself  to,  and 
founds  itself  upon,  the  love  of  goodness,  we  shall  see  at  once 
that  there  is  no  room  here  for  the  motives  which  have  oper- 
ated during  the  ascent  hither.  The  hope  of  reward  and  the 
fear  of  punishment,  whether  in  this  world  or  in  another,  are 
no  longer  needed.  In  the  beginning,  evil  was  resisted  and 
overcome,  under  the  influence  of  powerful  external  motives. 
In  the  next  and  higher  state  of  mind,  a  deeper  evil  was 
resisted  and  overcome,  by  the  help  of  a  purer  motive ;  by  the 
elevating  and  supporting  strength  of  a  love  of  the  truth,  and 
a  perception  of  its  excellence,  its  beauty,  and  its  safety.  But 
now  there  is  to  be  a  hatred  of  what  is  evil,  and  a  love  of  what 
is  good.  The  intellectual  is  no  longer  to  lead  the  affectional 
upwards,  and  sustain  its  feeble  footsteps  as  it  climbs  the  diffi- 
cult ascent ;  for  that  has  been  done.  Now,  the  affectional  ia 
dominant,  and  the  ruling  love  being  a  love  of  good,  it  resists, 
suppresses,  and  removes  all  conflicting  loves  of  evil  as  a  sov- 
ereign assails  and  subdues  rebels  ;  or,  better,  as  a  healthy 
organism  detects  and  casts  off  the  seeds  of  pain  and  disease. 


204  JEWISH  UNBELIEF. 

It  is  equally  obvious  that  the  evidence  demanded  for  this 
is  totally  different  from  that  which  was  appropriate  before. 
When  the  operative  motive  was  hope  or  fear,  the  adequate 
evidence  was  that  of  attraction  or  of  terror,  or  that  which  ap- 
pealed to  hope  or  to  fear,  as  did  all  the  evidence  belonging  to 
the  Jewish  dispensation.  When  the  operative  motive  became 
a  love  of  truth,  no  other  evidence  was  wanted  for  this,  and 
none  could  reach  this,  but  that  which  proved  the  authority  of 
the  teacher ;  that  miraculous  testimony  which  overpowers 
doubt,  and  by  proving  His  divine  origin  and  power,  proved 
the  divine  origin  and  power  of  the  truths  He  revealed.  This 
was  the  evidence  then  given  by  the  Lord.  "  Believe  me  for 
my  works'  sake,"  He  said  and  says  to  those  who  could  believe 
on  these  grounds,  and  could  not  on  any  other  ;  and  they  did 
and  do  believe  Him. 

But  the  Jews,  as  a  nation,  did  not  believe  him.  They  had 
not  ascended  above  the  Jewish  state  of  mind,  or  quality, 
or  faculty.  They  demanded  such  evidence  as  had  attended 
the  foundation  of  their  own  church.  The  reason  was,  that 
nothing  else  was  to  them  evidence,  and  nothing  else  could 
supply  them  with  motive.  But  this  kind  of  evidence  was  not 
given  to  them.  In  one  sense,  it  could  not  have  been  given. 
Doubtless  omnipotence  might  have  arrayed  the  truth  then 
descending  from  heaven,  with  all  the  terrors,  all  the  charms, 
and  all  the  proof  which  men  could  ask  or  imagine.  ,  But 
if  such  evidence  had  been  given  to  those  minds  who  could 
believe  truth  only  on  this  evidence,  in  proof  of  higher  truth 
than  was  suited  to  their  minds,  they  would  have  sunk  this 
truth  down  to  their  own  state.  If  they  heard,  and  believed 
the  words  of  the  Lord  on  this  evidence,  the  same  state  of 
mind  which  required  this  evidence,  and  could  not  believe  on 
any  other,  could  have  perceived  in  the  truths  nothing  but 
what  suited  that  state  of  mind,  or  would  very  soon  and  very 
certainly  have  lowered  those  truths  down  to  its  own  quality, 
by  interpretation  or  falsification.     Therefore  such  evidence 


TO   WHOM  TRUTH  IS   GIVEN.  205 

was  withheld ;  for  it  was  a  mercy  to  withhold  it  from  them, 
who  could  only  thus  abuse  it. 

The  very  same  thing  is  true  this  day ;  for  the  same  law 
continues,  and  must  produce  the  same  effects. 

The  truth  now  given  as  the  light  of  a  new  church  is  not 
given,  and  cannot  be  given,  to  those  who  do  not  seek  it  and 
receive  it  and  love  it,  for  the  sake  of  the  good  to  which 
it  leads.  And  of  this  there  can  be  no  external  evidence.  If 
a  man  has  an  earnest  desire  to  make  certain  machinery  for  a 
certain  end,  and  is  trying  to  learn  how,  the  test  to  which 
he  submits  the  truth  or  instruction  he  gets  for  the  purpose,  is 
its  adaptation  to  that  end ;  the  question  he  asks  is.  Will  it  do 
that  work  ?  If  he  sees  or  believes  that  it  leads  to  that  result, 
and  that  when  applied  to  practice,  it  will  bring  out  and  accom- 
plish that  purpose,  he  takes  it,  and  otherwise  he  rejects  it ;  and 
it  does  not  occur  to  him  that  he  can  take  it  or  reject  it  on  any 
other  ground.  Precisely  so  is  it  with  them  who  thirst  for 
truth  that  it  may  make  them  better.  All  the  evidence  that  is 
possible  or  imaginable  would  be  lost  on  them,  if  it  was  not 
evidence  that  this  truth,  if  applied  to  the  affections  and  to  the 
life  would  make  them  better.  All  evidence  that  is  possible 
for  them  is  the  evidence  of  their  own  perception  and  con- 
sciousness, assisted  perhaps  by  that  derived  from  observing 
how  the  affections  and  the  life  of  others  are  affected  by  a 
belief  in  those  truths. 

We  repeat,  that  other  evidence  of  this  truth  would  be  im- 
possible. If  we  suppose  it  written  in  letters  of  fire  upon  the 
sky,  if  the  stars  in  their  courses  formed  themselves  into  the 
words  that  told  it,  so  that  the  mind  was  completely  over- 
whelmed and  denial  made  impossible,  yet,  if  there  were  no 
earnest  desire  for  the  good  which  that  truth  taught  and 
brought  within  reach,  it  is  obvious  that  the  assent  of  the 
understanding  itself  would  be  unreal ;  it  would  be  verbal 
only ;  or  rather  silence  only.  It  would  be  an  enforced  absence 
of  denial,  and  not  a  reception  of  the  truth.     And  if  by  any 


206  REJECTION  MAT  BE  PRUDENT. 

such  means,  or  by  any  means,  those  who  could  not  love  these 
truths  were  made  to  receive  them  intellectually,  it  is  plain 
that  they  would  soon  falsify,  misunderstand,  and  abuse  them. 
And  to  prevent  this  misery,  a  merciful  providence  offers  these 
truths  in  such  a  way,  that  they  come  invitingly  to  those  who 
desire  them  in  a  deep  consciousness  of  their  moral  and  spirit- 
ual need  and  an  earnest  desire  of  moral  and  spiritual  improve- 
ment :  while  these  truths  bring  with  them  to  others  repulsion 
and  difficulty.  And  they  who  reject  this  truth  because  it 
does  not  come  with  the  evidence  and  sanction  which  attended 
earlier  and  lower  dispensations,  are,  in  one  respect,  prudent : 
they  reject  that  which  could  do  them  no  good,  and  they  reject 
it  for  a  reason  which  proves  that  it  could  do  them  no  good. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  from  this,  that  they  who  receive  the 
doctrines  of  the  new  church  are,  or  believe  themselves  to  be, 
necessarily  better  than  others.  In  the  first  place,  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  a  merely  intellectual  reception  of  the  truth, 
and  of  a  delight  in  it  merely  as  truth.  Perhaps  this  kind  of 
reception  is  the  beginning  of  all  reception  with  most  persons. 
And  with  some,  it  is  the  beginning  and  the  end.  But  an 
intellectual  reception  which  does  not  lead  to  and  is  not  the 
means  of  a  deeper  and  better  reception,  profiteth  little. 

Moreover,  those  who  receive  these  doctrines  are  not  to  be 
discriminated  from  those  who  do  not,  as  good  men  on  the 
one  side  and  bad  men  on  the  other.  From  their  peculiar 
tendencies  and  qualities,  perhaps  from  the  feeble  hold  upon 
them  of  other  doctrines,  or  from  surrounding  circumstances, 
they  are  persons  to  whom  they  may  be  offered,  and  who  may 
be  made  better  by  them.  They  may  need  more  help  against 
themselves  than  others  do ;  and  to  them  they  are  offered  by 
the  same  wise  goodness  which  offers  to  every  one  that  which 
he  most  needs  and  which  may  be  most  useful  to  him. 

Nor  can  it  be  doubted,  that  there  are  very  many  in  all  the 
regions  of  the  earth,  who,  by  the  opportunities,  the  instruction 
and  the  discipline,  which  are  afforded  them,  are  enabled,  — 


ORDER   OF  ASCENT  IN  EVIDENCE.  207 

not  to  receive  these  doctrines  in  this  life,  —  but  prepared 
to  receive  them  hereafter  with  joy  and  gladness.  It  is  to 
be  known,  —  although  we  can  now  only  state  the  fact,  and 
not  attempt  to  offer  illustration  of  it,  —  that  all  these  de- 
grees of  truth  exist  in  all  dispensations.  They  among  the 
Jews  who  were  capable  of  loving  truth  for  its  own  sake,  found 
the  truth  they  loved.  And  they  who  loved  the  good  this 
truth  taught,  found  it  coming  down  to  them  from  heaven. 
So  it  has  always  been,  and  so  is  it  now  in  all  dispensations, 
or  all  churches,  and  so  is  it  now  in  the  old  or  first  Christian 
Church.  For  churches  are  discriminated  from  each  other, 
not  by  the  limitation  to  any  one  of  them  of  any  one  degree 
of  love  or  life ;  but  by  the  predominance  and  fulness  of  that 
degree  of  truth  or  love,  which  gives  its  prevailing  character 
to  that  church  and  to  its  influence. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see  the  order  of  ascents  in  the  three 
kinds  of  evidence,  and  in  the  three  i^tates  of  mind  to  which 
they  appeal.  In  the  beginning,  when  first  awakening  from 
the  dream  of  sin  and  sensuality,  a  man  will  be  helped  by 
urgent  terror  or  by  hope  of  that  external  kind  which  he  can 
then  appreciate.  But  he  cannot  make  much  progress  in  re- 
nouncing sinful  indulgence  even  on  this  ground,  before  glimp- 
ses of  the  beauty  of  truth  visit  his  opening  eye,  and  he  begins 
to  see  how  right  it  is,  and  how  wise  it  is,  to  sell  all  things 
and  buy  this  pearl  of  truth.  And  then,  if  he  goes  on,  he  will 
become  able  to  discern,  and  feel  in  his  inmost  heart,  that  truth 
is  but  the  body  of  a  better  thing.  The  good  within  it  now 
seems  to  him  to  give  to  it  all  its  charm  and  all  its  worth. 
And  when,  from  loving  truth  for  its  own  sake  and  good  for 
the  sake  of  truth,  he  arises  to  the  love  of  good  for  its  own 
sake  and  of  truth  for  the  sake  of  good,  he  has  taken  the 
last  ascending  step. 

But  if  even  this  statement  of  the  degrees  of  evidence  and 
of  truth  seems  obscure,  let  me  say  in  all  simplicity,  that  a 
receptioii  of  the  truth  from  the  influence  of  threat  or  promise, 


208        THE  EVIDENCE  OF  THE  NEW  CHURCH. 

is  a  lower  reception  than  one  which  rests  on  external  evi- 
dence that  it  is  truth,  but  does  not  appeal  only  to  fear  or  hope ; 
and  that  this  is  again  lower  than  a  reception  of  truth  on  the 
evidence  of  its  own  light  and  its  own  influence  and  effect, 
and  the  perception  that  it  teaches  how  to  be  good.  Surely 
there  are  none  who  cannot  understand  this. 

The  evidence  on  which  this  church  rests,  which  is  now  in 
its  beginning,  is  of  this  last  description.  It  consists  in  part 
of  the  answers  which  it  gives  to  him  who  longs  to  find  order 
in  the  apparent  disorder  of  the  world,  and  to  quell  the  in- 
ward disorder  of  which  he  is  conscious.  If  the  cares  or 
pleasures  of  life  absorb  the  attention,  there  is  not  enough  of 
thought  about  the  destiny  or  the  duty  of  man  or  the  provi- 
dence of  God,  to  discern  even  the  clouds  which  environ  these 
great  subjects.  A  mind  in  this  condition  would  not  desire, 
nor  use,  nor  comprehend  the  truth  which  dispersed  these 
clouds  or  made  them  luminous.  If  there  is  contentment 
with  self  and  with  one's  own  goodness,  how  can  that  truth  be 
welcomed,  which  begins  with  the  declaration  that  one's  self- 
derived  goodness  is  not  good,  and  from  beginning  to  end  has 
but  one  purpose,  and  that  is  a  change  of  the  whole  heart  ? 
If  there  is  not  one  cordial  and  living  recognition  of  God  in 
the  soul,  what  room  is  there  for  the  truth  which  declares  that 
His  life  is  within  all  life,  His  divine  truth  within  all  law, 
His  love  and  wisdom  in  all  creation  as  the  elements  of  its 
being,  clothing  themselves  in  all  its  forms  and  forces,  and 
eternally  seeking  to  restore  all  things  to  unity  among  them- 
selves and  harmony  with  Him  ? 

K  it  be  true  that  the  truths  of  the  New  Church  form  one 
vast  system,  which  penetrates  every  corner  not  only  of  being, 
but  of  thought,  emotion,  duty  or  hope,  bearing  with  it  new 
light,  inspiring  new  motives,  demanding  new  affections,  and 
filling  the  whole  man  with  new  life,  and  new  love  towards  all 
whom  it  declares  to  be  children  of  the  same  Father,  —  it  must 
be  obvious  that  where  this  is  not  desired,  by  no  possibility 


WHO  DEMAND   OTHER  EVIDENCE.  209 

could  any  part  of  this  truth  be  received,  or  if  received,  pre- 
served. It  might  be  assented  to  intellectually ;  it  would  be 
possible  that  proof  of  it  might  be  so  forced  upon  the  mind 
that  there  could  be  no  denial.  But  even  then  there  could  be 
no  real  reception  or  incorporation  with  the  understanding 
where  there  was  no  desire  in  the  heart  for  the  proper  effects 
of  this  truth. 

On  the  other  hand,  where  this  desire  existed,  if  truth  was 
revealed  which  possessed  the  power  and  did  the  work  we 
have  ascribed  to  it,  a  mind  which  perceived  and  desired  this, 
even  imperfectly  and  as  it  were  only  in  its  beginning,  could 
no  more  ask  for  evidence,  than  a  hea'thy  and  open  eye  would 
ask  for  proof  of  the  existence  of  the  sun  in  whose  light  and 
warmth  it  rejoiced. 

"We  might  have  expected  therefore  what  we  see,  and  that 
is  a  repetition  of  a  circumstance  which  was  very  obvious  in 
the  beginning  of  Christianity.  There  was  then  also,  a  con- 
stant and  apparently  a  sincere  demand  for  evidence ;  and 
indeed  a  universal  and  passionate  desire  for  that  Messiah 
whom  they  expected.  We  wonder  that  such  a  cry  for  proof 
that  Jesus  was  the  Christ,  the  Messiah,  could  be  heard  in  the 
midst  of  that  array  of  convincing  miracles.  But  they  who 
demanded  evidence,  wanted  other  evidence ;  they  wanted 
evidence  different  in  kind ;  they  wanted  something  like  that 
which  had  been  given  to  their  fathers  ;  something  appro- 
priate to  the  state  of  mind  which  they  had  inherited  from 
their  fathers ;  something  of  what  such  a  Messiah  as  they 
desired  and  expected  would  have  brought  with  him.  But 
this  could  not  be  given  them,  because  it  would  not  have  been 
appropriate  to  the  truth  then  revealed. 

In  the  very  same  way  there  are  those  now  who  say,  some- 
times with  sincerity  and  fervor.  Very  glad  should  we  be  if  we 
could  believe  Swedenborg,  but  we  cannot  and  we  ought  not 
unless  he  offers  us  that  miraculous  attestation  which  is  the 
distinctive  proof  of  a  divine  revelation.    And.  they  may  be 

14 


210        TEE  EIOEER  RESTS  ON  TEE  LOWER. 

right.  Perhaps  they  cannot  believe  without  that  evidence ; 
and  they  cannot  believe  this  truth,  for  it  is  of  a  different 
order,  and  is  apprehensible  only  by  minds  of  another  class  or 
state ;  only  by  minds  which,  while  they  need  reform  and 
purification  quite  as  much  as  others,  or  it  may  be  more,  can 
best  be  led  to  it  in  this  way.  In  other  words,  the  universal 
law  by  force  of  which  truths  of  any  especial  kind  or  order 
can  be  verified  only  by  evidence  of  the  same  kind  or  order,  a 
law  recognized  in  all  the  branches  of  science,  and  indeed 
through  all  the  departments  of  human  inquiry,  applies  here 
also. 

In  dealing  with  that  opening  miracle  which  introduced  the 
whole  Christian  dispensation  by  showing  how  that  dispensa- 
tion converts  into  its  own  wine  the  Jewish  water  of  purifica- 
tion, we  have  anticipated  somewhat,  in  speaking  of  that 
completion  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  in  which  its  wine 
of  truth  should  be  converted  into  the  oil  of  good  and  of  glad- 
ness. But  it  seemed  well  to  do  this,  because  neither  of  these 
dispensations  can  be  understood  without  the  other.  Each  of 
them  implies  the  other.  The  lower  contains  the  higher ;  the 
higher  rests  upon  the  lower.  By  this  we  mean,  that  obe- 
dience is  of  no  value,  if  there  be  not  within  it  some  love  of 
the  truth,  and  some  love  of  good  to  which  the  truth  leads, 
although  at  present  they  do  not  reign,  but  require  external 
help  to  produce  obedience.  So  the  love  of  truth,  although  it 
be  manifested  only  in  that  form,  must  have  within  some  love 
of  good,  or  it  is  barren  and  dead.  And  on  the  other  hand, 
no  love  of  goodness  is  sound  and  healthy,  if  it  does  not  love 
and  promptly  and  fully  receive  and  obey  the  truth  that  points 
out  the  way  to  goodness. 

When  the  love  of  truth  is  established  in  the  mind,  the  out- 
ward proof  is  a  new  and  more  perfect  obedience.  And  when 
the  love  of  truth  has  ripened  into  the  love  of  good,  then  the 
love  of  truth  acquires  new  life,  and  obedience  to  the  truth 
has  a  readiness,  a  fulness,  and  a  gladness  never  imagined 


RESULTS.  211 

before.  Infinitely  removed  therefore  from  the  truth  is  that 
error  which  supposes  that  either  of  these  dispensations 
wholly  supersedes  that  which  went  before.  On  the  contrary 
that  which  came  later  embraces  that  which  came  before,  and 
vivifies  it,  and  rests  for  ever  firmly  planted  upon  ■  it  as  upon 
its  own  proper  foundation. 

It  was  this  error  which  our  Lord  rebuked,  not  for  that 
time  only,  but  for  all  time,  when  he  said,  "  Think  not  that  I 
am  come  to  destroy  the  law."  And  elsewhere,  when  we 
reach  these  words  and  others  of  similar  meaning,  we  shall 
have  opportunity  to  show  more  fully,  that  obedience,  simple, 
unqualified,  undoubting  and  unresisting  obedience  to  the  laws 
of  God,  is  the  first  and  the  last  proof  of  all  love  of  good- 
ness, and  the  eternal  foundation  upon  which  all  goodness  of 
the  will  or  the  understanding,  of  affection  or  of  truth,  must 
for  ever  rest. 

The  results  which  we  have  reached  may  be  compressed  into 
the  following  statement :  — 

Every  man  has  in  him  the  elements  and  possibility  of 
natural,  spiritual  and  heavenly  life.  The  Israelites,  as  a 
nation,  were  eminently  and  almost  only  natural ;  and  to  them 
was  given  a  scripture  which  addresses  itself  in  its  literal  sense 
mainly  to  the  natural  man.  And  it  was  given  to  them  not  for 
themselves  only,  but  for  all  men  in  all  ages,  because  in  all  men 
this  natural  man  must  be  the  basis  of  the  whole  character. 

This  scripture  prophesies  of  something  more,  and  of  one 
who  should  teach  something  more.  So  all  religious  truth,  if 
religiously  received  by  the  natural  man,  inspires  in  him  a  hope 
and  aspiration  for  something  more  and  higher. 

But  this  higher  revelation  can  only  be  born  when  the 
spirit  of  God  descends  upon  the  natural  man  and  impregnates 
it  with  divine  life.  '  And  when  it  is  born,  it  wears  the  form 
and  aspect  of  its  natural  parent,  and  must  be  baptized  with 
water  or  cleansed  in  its  external  by  natural  truth,  and  only 


212  MIRACLES   OF  CURE. 

gradually,  and  through  temptation,  conflict  and  victory,  are 
the  things  in  this  natural  element  which  oppose  the  divine, 
overcome  and  removed,  and  the  natural  life  thus  purified  is 
infilled  and  glorified  with  divine  life. 

The  indispensable  condition  of  this  progress  is,  that  the 
natural  should  be  converted  into  the  spiritual.  However 
slowly,  and  imperfectly  or  slightly  this  is  done,  excepting 
where  it  is  done  in  some  way  and  in  some  measure,  or,  to 
express  this  truth  in  scripture  forms,  excepting  where  some- 
thing of  good  is  married  to  its  appropriate  truth  in  the  Gali- 
lee of  the  mind,  and  at  that  marriage  the  water  in  the  vessels 
of  purification  after  the  manner  of  the  Jews  is  converted 
and  spiritualized,  the  first  step  is  not  taken  towards  the 
elevation  of  the  natural  man  above  natural  goodness. 


OF   THE    MIRACLES    OF    CTJIIE. 

There  follows  in  the  order  of  time  that  which  is  called 
"  the  Second  Miracle  which  Jesus  did,  when  he  was  come  out 
of  Judea  into  Galilee." 

It  was  the  healing  of  the  son  of  a  nobleman.  The  sick 
child  lay  at  Capernaum.  But  the  miracle  took  place,  or 
rather  the  supernatural  exercise  of  a  healing  power  took 
place,  at  "  Cana  of  Galilee  where  he  made  the  water  wine." 
It  was  thence  the  father  came  to  Jesus,  beseeching  him,  "  that 
he  would  come  down  to  heal  his  son,  for  he  was  at  the  point 
of  death." 

It  may  be  weU  to  consider  together  all  the  miracles  of 
cure  which  our  Lord  wrought.  Of  some  of  them  we  may 
speak  specifically ;  but  before  doing  so  some  general  remarks 
may  be  made  which  are  applicable  to  all.  And  the  general 
result  which  we  shall  reach  is,  that  in  these  miracles  as  in  all 
His  life  on  earth,  our  Lord  was  doing  only  that  which  he  is 
always  doing. 

What  is  health,  and  what  is  sickness,  and  what  is  cure  ? 


WHAT  SICKNESS  IS.  213 

The  words  which  are  most  commonly  used  to  express  sick- 
ness, are  disease,  and  disorder;  and  both  are  significant. 
When  life  is  received  without  impediment  or  obstruction  into 
the  spiritual  body,  and  through  that  flows  into  and  animates 
the  natural  body,  there  is  a  sense  of  joy  in  the  mere  con- 
sciousness of  life.  The  whole  man  is  at  ease.  There  is  hap- 
piness without  the  specific  gratification  of  any  desire,  and 
indeed  with  no  specific  cause  to  which  it  can  be  referred. 
All  men  may  remember  states  like  this  in  their  childhood,  for 
there  must  have  been  moments  at  least,  when  gladness  and 
deep  joy  were  felt,  with  no  endeavor  and  no  ability  to  as- 
cribe them  to  any  particular  event.  In  maturer  life,  these 
states,  if  they  occur,  are  more  rare ;  because  the  absence  of 
impediment  and  obstruction  to  the  reception  and  flow  of  life  is 
seldom  so  entire.  But  when  this  obstruction  is  much  in- 
creased, the  man  is  no  longer  "  at  ease ; "  life  becomes  difficult 
and  not  easy ;  and  there  is  a  distinct  sense  of  dis-ease  or  the 
opposite  of  ease. 

So  too  this  reception  and  flow  of  life  can  only  take  place 
when  the  two  organisms,  spiritual  and  natural,  which  receive 
and  feel  life,  are,  each  in  itself,  in  a  condition  of  order,  and 
also  in  orderly  harmony  and  relation.  For  if  they  are,  or  if 
either  of  them  is,  not  in  this  order,  there  is  then  an  in- 
stinctive sense  of  disorder  ;  and  sickness,  of  some  kind  or  de- 
gree, takes  place.  We  may  thus  see  what  health  is  ;  and 
what  the  opposite  of  health,  or  sickness,  is ;  and  may  infer 
that  cure  must  consist  in  removing  the  obstructions  and  im- 
pediments to  health,  and  invigorating  the  influences  which 
restore  health.  Sickness,  or  disease,  or  disorder,  may  come 
in  either  of  three  ways.  The  spiritual  body  may  be  out  of 
order,  or  the  natural  body  may  be  out  of  order ;  or  both  may 
be  so. 

Whichever  of  these  may  be  the  form  of  the  sickness,  the  es- 
sence of  it  is  always  the  same.  Influent  life  is  not  received  as  it 
should  be.  and  does  not  flow  down  and  forth  as  it  should  flow. 


214  DEMONIAC  POSSESSION. 

The  causes  of  disease  may  operate  directly  upon  the  spirit- 
ual body,  or  upon  the  natural  body.  It  is  probable  that  they 
operate  sometimes,  in  these  and  in  all  ages,  directly  upon  the 
spiritual  body ;  but  far  less  so  now  than  in  the  time  of  our 
Lord's  coming.  When  such  causes  operate  in  such  a  way, 
they  must  operate  through  those  who  live  in  the  spiritual 
world.  And  when  they  operate  thus  with  peculiar  force,  it 
is  because  these  evil  spirits  have  peculiar  dominion  over  the 
spiritual  body,  and  through  that  over  the  natural  body ; 
or,  over  the  whole  man.  Such  cases  constitute  those 
instances  of  demoniac  possession  which  are  recorded  in  the 
gospels. 

It  is  rather  a  fashion  now  to  consider  those  cases  as  only 
exaggerated  and  metaphorical  descriptions  of  severe  ailments 
of  body  or  mind.  There  is  as  much  truth  in  this  view  as 
may  be  expressed  by  the  law,  that  all  sickness  springs  from 
the  action  of  spiritual  causes  and  spiritual  beings.  But  it  is 
also  true  that  these  causes  may  operate  far  more  directly,  and 
with  far  greater  power  in  some  cases  than  in  others. 

It  is  probable  that  now,  the  very  great  majority  of  cases 
of  sickness  occur  from  the  operation  of  spiritual  causes 
through  natural  means  ;  and  they  who  have  no  knowledge  or 
belief  of  spiritual  existences  or  spiritual  causes  would  as- 
cribe them  to  natural  causes  only.  Of  the  recorded  miracles 
of  cure  of  our  Lord,  twenty  in  number  (many  of  which  are  of 
more  than  one  person),  one-fourth  only  are  described  as  the 
casting  out  of  demons.  Of  the  others,  many  are  spoken  of 
as  we  should  speak  of  well-known  diseases  now ;  as  fever, 
leprosy,  paralysis,  blindness,  deafness,  dumbness,  withered  or 
powerless  limbs.  Of  such  cases,  the  vast  majority  were  then, 
as  they  are  now,  caused  through  natural  means.  If  a  man 
take  a  poisonous  drug  he  sickens.  So  he  may  if  he  inhale 
poisonous  miasma  in  the  air ;  or  indulge  in  gluttony,  or  any 
lust.  And  he  may  suffer  from  such  causes  at  once,  or  only 
after  long  delay.    Or  he  may  store  up  tendencies  to  disease  in 


THE   CURE   OF  DISEASE.  215 

his  constitution,  and  give  them  to  his  children,  to  break  out 
in  some  distant  generation. 

Of  all  these  diseases,  whatever  may  be  their  forms,  or 
names,  or  however  they  be  caused,  amid  this  infinite  diversity 
there  is  one  certainty.  If  there  be  cure  and  recovery,  this 
cure  is  effected  by  the  life  within.  However  physicians  may 
vary  in  their  theories  or  their  practice,  and  whether  they 
hold  that  medicine  can  only  remove  impediments  and  permit 
this  inward  force  to  operate,  or  that  suitable  medicines  will 
co-operate  with  and  strengthen  this  inward  force,  all  must 
agree,  that  if  this  force  be  absent  or  inactive,  there  can  be  no 
cure.  Another  thing  is  perhaps  equally  certain.  It  is,  that 
so  long  as  life  exists,  it  endeavors  to  cure.  Cases  of  sudden 
death,  from  wounds,  from  active  poison,  or  lesions  of  a  vital 
organ,  may  form  apparent  and  perhaps  real  exceptions.  But 
they  are  only  exceptions  to  the  law.  And  it  seems  now  to  be 
generally  admitted,  that  the  active  and  painful  symptoms  of 
disease  do  usually  indicate  and  exhibit  the  efforts  of  this 
inward  force  to  remove  disease. 

It  is  the  custom  to  call  this  inward  and  curative  force 
"  nature ;"  and  this  is  the  word  which  one  finds  in  almost  all 
books  which  treat  of  cure.  The  word,  so  used,  means  very 
little,  and  is  therefore  a  good  word  if  there  be  very  little 
meaning  to  express. 

But  it  is  not  "  nature  "  which  cures ;  for  it  is  God  who 
cures.  It  is  the  life  of  God  imparted  to  man,  which  cures. 
It  is  his  life,  which,  flowing  into  man  and  received  by  man, 
becomes  man's  life.  It  is  all  the  life  the  man  has ;  and  it 
does  aU  the  work  which  all  the  life  of  man  can  do. 

The  divine  life  forms  and  fills  the  spiritual  or  internal  body, 
and  through  that  forms  and  fills  the  natural,  or  material  or 
external  body,  as  long  as  the  internal  body  remains  within 
and  connected  with  it.  The  perpetual  effort  of  this  divine 
life  is,  to  bring  the  spiritual  body  into  order  and  keep  it  in 
order ;  and  through  it  to  bring  the  natural  body  into  order 


216  WHY  DISEASE  IS  NOT  CUBED. 

and  keep  it  in  order.  But  this  effort  is  always  subordinated 
to  the  constant  and  universal  purpose  of  the  Lord,  which 
is  to  respect  and  preserve  the  freedom  of  man,  and,  through 
that  freedom  do  him  good.  Out  of  this  law,  or  limitation,  or 
necessity,  grows  another  law ;  or  rather,  in  conformity  and 
harmony  with  this  law,  another  law  co-exists  and  co-operates. 
It  is,  that  when  mischiefs  of  all  kinds  flow  from  the  abuse  of 
this  freedom,  they  are  resisted,  overcome,  suppressed  and  re- 
moved by  the  life  within,  just  so  far  and  no  farther,  as  the 
,  whole  good  of  the  individual  —  the  good  that  includes  eter- 
nity as  well  as  time  —  requires  and  pei'mits. 

If  an  accident  befalls  a  man,  —  as  for  example,  a  fatal  wound, 
—  which  makes  it  impossible  that  he  should  live  longer  on 
earth,  it  does  not  befall  him  because  the  providence  of  God 
was  absent  or  ineffectual.  If  he  dies  of  disease,  it  was  not 
because  the  power  of  God  to  heal  was  wanting ;  but  be- 
cause in  these  instances  the  divine  power  was  directed  by  the 
love  which  desired  the  best  good  of  the  man,  and  by  the 
wisdom  which  saw  the  whole  being  of  the  man,  and  knew 
what  that  good  required. 

But  if  the  wounded  man  be  healed,  or  if  the  sick  man  re- 
cover, it  is  only  because  the  life  within,  or  divine  power, 
filling  and  acting  through  the  life  of  the  man,  was  able  to 
accomplish  its  divine  endeavor,  in  conformity  with  the  divine 
purposes  and  the  divine  order. 

K  one  lies  down  with  fever,  there  is  a  conflict  within  him 
between  life  and  that  which  resists  life.  If  he  have  leprosy, 
the  life  within  casts  the  disease  to  the  surface,  and  would  re- 
move it  if  it  could  under  the  limitations  above  stated.  If  he 
be  paralyzed,  the  life  within  endeavors  to  restore  to  the  body 
its  capacity  of  obedience  and  usefulness.  If  he  be  blind, 
or  deaf,  or  dumb,  or  have  a  withered  or  an  impotent  limb, 
the  life  within,  which  built  and  animates  all  organs,  endeavors 
to  restore  that  which  suffers  to  its  orderly  condition. 

The  question  in  any  case  whether  the  man  shall  recover, 


THE  DEAD  RECALLED   TO  LIFE.  217 

or  remain  ill,  or  grow  more  sick  and  die,  is  always  and  only 
the  question,  whether  between  these  conflicting  forces,  the 
curative  and  restorative  force  of  life  shall  be  the  stronger  or 
the  weaker. 

Now  this  life  is,  as  we  have  said  again  and  again,  the 
Lord's  life  in  us ;  is  the  Lord  in  us  ;  and  therefore  it  might 
have  been  said  as  well,  or  better,  that  if  the  man  be  wounded 
and  healed,  or  sick  and  recover,  or  powerless  in  some  organ 
and  restored,  it  is  the  Lord  within  him  who  does  this  work 
of  restoration.  And  He  does  it  by  the  invigoration  of  the 
curative  and  restorative  powers  of  the  life  which  flowing 
from  Him  is  then  in  the  man  as  the  man's  life. 

This  is  precisely  what  our  Lord  did  in  the  miraculous 
cures  which  He  wrought  while  walking  among  men  in  His 
assumed  humanity ;  but  in  an  unusual  way,  because  for  an 
unusual  purpose. 

They  were  done  to  show  to  men  what  He  is  always  doing ; 
to  tell  them  what  cure  and  restoration  are  and  whence  they 
come.  They  were  "miracles,"  because  they  were  things 
which  He  did  then  only,  in  that  way ;  but  they  were  "  signs  " 
because  they  were  things  which  He  is  always  doing,  and  did 
then,  under  such  circumstances,  in  such  a  way,  and  to  such 
an  extent,  as  to  excite  not  only  their  admiration,  or  wonder, 
but  their  recognition  of  Him  and  His  power. 

Precisely  the  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  instances  in 
which  our  Lord  restored  the  dead  to  life.  They  were  three ; 
the  widow's  son  at  Nain,  the  daughter  of  Jairus,  and  Laza- 
rus. 

Modern  rationalism,  which  is  not  willing  to  declare  its  un- 
belief in  the  Glospels,  or,  perhaps  is  desirous  to  believe  them 
if  it  can  do  so  in  its  own  way,  sometimes  calls  these  "  cases 
of  suspended  animation."  And  one  argument  for  this  is 
founded  upon  our  Lord's  words  about  the  daughter  of  Jairus, 
"  Weep  not ;  she  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth ; "  and  of  Lazarus, 
"  Our  friend  Lazarus  sleepeth ;  but  I  go  that  I  may  awake 


218  SUSPENDED  ANIMATION. 

him  out  of  sleep."  It  should  however  be  remembered,  that 
it  is  added  immediately  after,  "  Then  said  Jesus  unto  them 
plainly,  Lazarus  is  dead." 

They  may  all  have  been  only  cases  of  "  suspended  anima- 
tion ; "  but  what  then  ? 

Swedenborg  tells  us,  —  and  upon  this  point  we  defer  im- 
plicitly to  his  authority,  — that  death  is  usually  not  complete 
and  absolute  until  some  time  after  apparent  death.  Death  is 
sleep ;  both  the  spiritual  body  and  the  natural  body  sleep ; 
the  natural  body  does  not  wake ;  but  the  sj^iritual  body 
wakes  and  is  assisted  by  angels  to  leave  the  natural  body, 
which  continues  to  sleep  until  the  spiritual  body  leaves  it  and 
then  dies.  But  this  does  not  occur  until  all  inward  vital 
action  has  completely  ceased,  for  while  the  action  of  life  con- 
tinues there  is  life  within.  And  the  soul  does  not  leave  the 
body,  usually,  until  about  the  third  day  from  apparent  death. 
It  is  about  the  third  day  that,  —  to  use  a  phrase  I  have  heard 
from  persons  accustomed  to  be  employed  about  the  dead,  — 
"  the  flesh  sets."  It  is  now  often  stated  in  medical  books, 
that  the  seeming  dead  should  not  be  buried  until  this  rigor  is 
established,  because  it  is  the  best  if  not  the  only  certain  evi- 
dence of  actual  and  total  death.  And  all  who  are  accustomed 
to  observe  the  dead,  and  know  how  often  the  face  assumes  at 
once  an  expression  of  glad  repose,  know  how  soon  this  passes 


Cases  of  suspended  animation  are  very  common.  Every 
fainting  fit  may  be  regarded  as  one ;  and  it  often  occurs 
in  cases  of  suffocation,  and  comes  and  remains  in  some 
cases  of  that  undefined  and  not  understood  condition  which 
is  called  trance.  The  instances  in  which  persons  about  to  be 
buried  have  revived  prove  that  life  may  remain,  and  be  capa- 
ble of  return,  for  some  time  after  every  common  indication 
of  its  presence  or  action  has  passed  away. 

It  is  called  suspended  animation  if  the  person  revives  ; 
death,  if  he  does  not.     But  if  he  revives,  why,  how,  does 


WHAT  ALL  RECOVERY  IS.  219 

he  revive  ?  Because  the  life  within,  the  human  life  within, 
which  in  its  origin  and  essence  is  divine  life,  resumes  its  sway 
over  the  natural  body.  Perhaps  no  man  ever  died  of  sick- 
ness, when  precisely  this  thing  might  not  have  happened,  in 
one  stage  of  the  disease ;  or  when  the  life  within  might 
not  have  been  so  invigorated  from  its  divine  source,  as  to 
animate  with  new  force  the  natural  body,  and  slowly  or  rap- 
idly, according  to  the  condition  of  that  body,  heal  its  sickness, 
and  enable  it  to  resume  all  its  functions.  We  do  not  mean 
to  say,  that  in  the  case  of  Lazarus,  for  example,  the  soul  had 
not  left  the  body  and  was  recalled  to  it ;  or  that  this  may  not 
have  happened  in  some  of  the  cases  of  what  are  called  "  sus- 
pended animation."  We  know  not  how  this  matter  is.  But 
we  believe  that  whoever  faints  away  and  seems  to  die,  and 
revives,  is  restored  to  life  by  our  Lord,  just  as  much  by 
an  exercise  of  His  power,  as  was  Lazarus ;  but  not  in  the 
same  way  and  under  the  same  circumstances.  For  it  must 
not  be  supposed,  for  a  moment,  that  the  views  here  presented, 
derogate  from  the  worth  or  diminish  the  influence  of  the 
miracles  of  our  Lord.  They  were  works  of  Divine  Power ; 
they  were  "  signs  "  of  the  putting  forth  of  this  power ;  they 
were  works  intended  to  make  this  Power  manifest ;  and  they 
did,  and  they  do,  make  this  Power  manifest ;  make  it  mani- 
fest to  those  to  whom  it  is  not  manifest  in  its  constant 
and  customary  action. 

They  were  and  are  addressed,  in  their  outward  form  and 
significance  to  those  whose  way  of  thinking,  and  feeling,  and 
living,  was  and  is  outward ;  to  them  in  whom  the  external 
capacities  of  the  soul  are  awakened,  and  who  are  influenced  by 
such  things  only  as  those  external  capacities  can  apprehend. 

Such  persons  are  accustomed  to  the  rising  and  setting  sun  ; 
to  the  birth,  the  growth,  the  sickness  and  the  death  of  men  ; 
to  all  the  ordinary  course  of  human  and  worldly  events.  Be- 
cause so  accustomed,  there  grows  up  in  them,  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  the  feeling  that  these  things  take  care  of  them- 


220  CONSTANT  MIRACLES. 

selves  ;  that  they  go  on  in  a  certain  way,  because  that  is  the 
way  of  their  going  on  ;  and  they  do  not,  and  perhaps  cannot, 
look  through  these  effects  to  their  causes,  nor  through  these 
causes  to  their  cause.  And  for  them  this  "  custom  "  is  broken 
by  a  "miracle"  in  a  way  which  startles,  and  rouses,  and 
instructs  them.     Let  me  quote  what  Cowper  says :  — 

"  What  prodigies  can  power  divine  perform 
More  grand  than  it  produces  year  by  year, 
And  all  in  sight  of  inattentive  man ! 
All  we  behold  is  miracle ;  but  seen 
So  dully  all  is  miracle  in  vain. 
From  dearth  to  plenty,  and  from  death  to  life, 
Is  nature's  progress  when  she  lectures  man 
In  heavenly  truth ;  evincing  as  she  makes 
All  her  transitions,  that  there  lives  and  works 
A  Soul  in  all  things,  —  and  that  soul  is  God." 

They  who  cannot  see  this,  then  constituted  and  now  con- 
stitute a  majority  of  mankind ;  a  majority  which  can  be 
diminished  only  very  slowly  ;  and  will  cease  to  be  a  majority 
only  in  a  distant  period.  And  these  miracles  are  recorded, 
that  they  may  for  ever  remain  as  a  testimony  for  such  minds. 

Our  Lord  said,  Believe  me  "for  the  works'  sake."  Nor 
did  he  say  it  in  vain.  In  that  age,  and  in  every  succeeding 
age,  this  miraculous  testimony  has  undoubtedly  carried  to 
many  minds  the  conviction  that  it  was  intended  to  carry. 

But  there  are  also  persons  in  whom  the  internal  capacities 
and  powers  of  the  soul  are  awakened.  And  are  not  these 
works  miracles  for  them  also?  Certainly  they  are,  and  in 
a  far  higher  sense,  with  a  far  greater  power,  and  with  a  far 
profounder  meaning  than  before.  They  are  miracles ;  and 
are  none  the  less  miracles  to  them  who  see  that  all  the  action 
and  movement  of  the  universe  of  spirit  and  of  matter  are 
most  miraculous.  They  are  the  works  of  God  ;  and  not  the 
less  the  works  of  God,  because  there  is  no  such  thing  and 
never  was  nor  can  be,  as  a  work  without  God ;  as  a  work 
which  is  not  His  work,  done  by  such  an  instrumentality  and  in 


BELIEF  FOR   TEE   WORKS'   SAKE.  221 

such  a  way  as  His  purpose  requires ;  done  by  infinite  power, 
animated  by  infinite  love,  and  guided  by  infinite  wisdom  ;  but, 
for  the  most  part,  using  finited  and  imperfect  means,  because 
this  infinite  wisdom  sees  that  by  these  means  the  purposes  of 
this  infinite  love  may  be  best  accomplished. 

To  such  persons  as  these,  all  things  are  miracles ;  but,  for 
them,  the  miracles  of  the  soul  are  to  the  miracles  of  the  body, 
what  the  soul  is  to  the  body. 

To  them  therefore  also  the  words  are  addressed,  "  Believe 
me  for  the  works'  sake."  But  they  see  in  the  miraculous 
cures  and  restorations  which  our  Lord  wrought  visibly,  the 
forms  and  signs  of  precisely  correspondent  cures  and  restora- 
tions which  by  His  divine  power,  he  wrought  then,  and  is 
for  ever  working,  in  the  world  of  spirit.  And  for  these  works' 
sake  they  believe  in  Him. 

They  believe  that  He  only  can,  and  that  He  does,  open  the 
eyes  of  the  spiritually  blind  that  they  may  see  Him  in  His 
works  ;  that  He  only  can  and  does  unstop  the  ear  of  the 
spiritually  deaf  that  they  may  hear  His  words  ;  that  He 
alone  bids  the  lame  walk  in  the  way  of  life,  and  cleanses  the 
leprous  soul,  invigorates  the  spiritually  paralytic,  and  re-ani- 
mates the  spiritually  dead. 

They  read  the  record  of  these  miracles  ;  and  in  what  they 
read  find  corroboration  and  proof  of  His  universal  presence 
and  universal  action,  until  the  mind  bows  prostrate  before  the 
infinite  wonder  of  that  power  which  built  and  sustains  the 
universe,  and  fills  and  forms  and  guides  every  atom  in  it,  with 
a  love,  a  wisdom  and  a  power  as  perfect,  as  if  that  atom  were 
the  only  thing  God  cared  for. 

It  is  often  said  by  Swedenborg,  and  by  those  who  speak  of 
the  New  Church,  that  it  does  not  rest  upon  the  evidence  of 
miracles,  because  it  differs  from  preceding  churches,  in  the 
fact  that  miracles  are  not  its  proper  evidence.  In  a  most 
important  sense,  this  is  true.  Nor  is  it  any  thing  but  another 
way  of  presenting  the  same  truth,  if  we  say  that  while  the 


222  A  MIBACLE  IS  A   SIGN. 

miracles  whicli  attested  the  first  Christian  church  were  not 
less  miracles  than  those  which  attested  the  Israelitish  church, 
but  differed  so  entirely  from  them  in  their  nature  that  they 
were  wholly  worthless  to  them  to  whom  only  the  thunders  of 
Sinai  could  have  spoken ;  so  miracles  attest  the  second  com- 
ing of  the  Lord,  which  are  so  entirely  distinct  in  their  nature 
from  those  which  attested  His  first  coming,  that  they  are 
rejected  by  those  who  are  astonished  at  the  incredulity  of  the 
Jews  because  they  were  not  convinced  by  the  miracles  of 
Jesus. 

Let  us  remember  precisely  what  a  miracle  is  ;  not  merely 
a  "  wonder "  but  "  a  sign,"  or  a  wonder  intended  to  "  sig- 
nify" and  to  prove  the  existence,  the  presence,  and  the 
power  of  God.  It  is  then  obvious  that  miracles  may  be  of 
two  kinds.  One,  where  a  strange  thing  is  done  in  such  a  way 
as  to  have  this  effect.  The  other,  where  a  common  thing  is 
done,  but  such  extraordinary  light  is  thrown  upon  it,  that  it 
may  produce  this  effect. 

If  a  fevered  man  be  healed  at  once  by  a  word  so  uttered 
as  to  assure  us  that  God  spake  it  by  His  messenger,  it  would 
be  a  miracle  of  the  first  kind. 

If  he  were  cured  in  the  course  of  treatment,  and  our  eyes 
were  opened,  so  that  we  saw  a  messenger  from  God  in  some 
way  imparting  to  the  physician  (then  or  before)  instruction 
as  to  what  medicines  should  be  used ;  then  giving  efficacy  to 
the  medicine,  and  entering  into  the  body  invigorating  the  life 
within  and  helping  it  to  receive  a  curative  influence,  and  so 
we  saw  the  man  get  well,  it  would  be  a  miracle  of  the  second 
kind. 

Now  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church  convert  all  instances 
of  cure  into  precisely  these  miracles ;  and  not  cures  of 
disease  only,  but  all  the  works,  and  activities  and  forces 
of  nature.  They  open  our  eyes,  until  we  see  not  only  that 
God  is  in  them,  but  that  He  is  all  the  life,  and  power,  and 
force  that  is  in  esjch  one  of  them. 


MIRACLES   ON  THE  SABBATH.  223 

His  second  coming  is  indeed  attested  by  miracles,  which 
are  only  too  vast,  too  constant,  too  overwhelming,  for  our 
feeble  thought.  Let  the  light  of  the  truths  in  which  He 
comes  fall  upon  a  blade  of  grass,  an  insect,  or  a  dew-drop,  and 
it  shines  with  the  glory  of  Omnipotence.  But  I  feel  the 
utter  impotence  of  words  even  to  indicate  this.  Let  me  say 
only,  that  while  this  Proof,  like  every  other,  depends  for 
its  influence  upon  the  mind  which  receives  it,  in  itself,  it  has 
the  whole  strength  of  absolute  certainty.  If  the  wild  and 
groundless  fantasies  of  those  who  are  now  expecting  a  literal 
"  end  of  the  world "  were  realized,  and  he  whose  mind  was 
penetrated  with  the  truths  of  the  New  Church  looked  on 
and  saw  the  "  saints  "  lifted  up  in  their  white  robes,  and  the 
flames  gathering  to  devour  this  solid  globe,  and  heard  the 
trumfjet-tones  of  judgment  fill  earth  and  sky,  not  one  particle 
would  they  add  to  the  conviction  he  now  holds,  that  the 
Lord  God  Almighty  lives,  and  reigns  and  judges. 

OF    THE    WORKING    OF    MIRACLES    ON    THE    SABBATH. 

A  large  proportion  of  these  miracles  were  wrought  upon 
the  Sabbath.  This  gave  much  offence  to  some  of  the  Jews : 
it  seemed  to  them  a  violation  of  their  law,  and  was  regarded 
as  evidence  that  He  could  not  be  a  Messiah,  who,  when  he 
came,  would  fulfil  their  law. 

In  the  literal  sense  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  demanded 
nothing  more  than  a  cessation  of  labor.  But  our  Lord 
taught  the  Jews  that  "  it  was  lawful  to  do  well  on  the  Salibath- 
day."  The  law  of  Moses  was  given  to  an  entirely  natural 
people;  to  a  race  in  whom  there  was  almost  nothing  of  a 
spiritual  character,  and  the  laws  of  God  are  all,  in  their  literal 
sense,  addressed  to  such  persons :  and  they  are  all,  in  this 
sense,  addressed  to  all  persons,  because  all  persons  possess 
this  nature,  and  need  that  it  should  be  taught  and  controlled. 
They  are  addressed  to  them  therefore,  and  to  this  nature  in  all, 


224  THE  SABBATH  MADE  FOR  MAN. 

in  terms  in  which  they  can  be  understood  and  obeyed ;  and 
their  requirements  are  such  that  obedience  to  the  lowest 
and  literal  sense  improves  the  character,  bends  it  in  the 
right  direction,  and  prepares  it  gradually  to  receive  the  higher 
truths  and  laws  which  lie  within  the  literal  sense. 

The  Sabbath  is  "  the  Lord's  day."  It  is  the  day  when  He 
rests.  He  hallowed  the  Sabbath-day,  because  on  it  He 
rested  from  His  labors,  not  that  He  then  ceases  to  act,  but 
because  His  action  is  no  longer  resisted  and  counteracted, 
and  made,  as  it  were,  a  labor.  It  is  the  Lord's  own  day ; 
because  when  it  dawns  upon  the  soul,  the  work  of  man  be- 
comes one  with  the  work  of  God,  and  God  rests  from  the 
necessary  coercion  of  man,  and  man  rests  from  his  opposition 
to  God.  Such  rest  to  the  merely  natural  man,  no  part  of 
whose  life  is  yet  in  willing  co-operation  with  the  influent  divine 
life,  is  simply  a  cessation  of  active  life,  or  mere  inaction.  And 
therefore  this  was  the  external  form  of  the  Sabbath  as  given 
to  the  Jews  in  the  laws  of  Moses.  But  by  the  higher  truth 
of  Christianity  it  was  taught,  that  the  inaction  of  the  natural 
man,  and  his  abstinence  from  "  finding  his  own  pleasure  "  and 
"  doing  his  own  works  "  on  that  day  or  in  the  time  when  the 
authority  of  God  is  acknowledged,  were  for  a  farther  and 
higher  end ;  were  only  to  enable  him  to  receive  the  divine 
influence,  and  do  the  works  of  God.  And  therefore  it  was 
lawful,  on  that  day,  to  do  any  work  of  benevolence,  any  work 
that  was  unselfish,  any  work  good  in  this  sense. 

Man  was  not  made  for  the  Sabbath,  but  the  Sabbath  was 
made  for  man.  This  ordinance,  and  all  of  the  laws  and 
ordinances  of  God,  were  not  first  made,  and  then  man  made 
for  their  sake.  But  they  are  all  made  for  the  sake  of  man, 
and  to  the  end  that  they  may  help  him,  and  guide  him,  and 
bring  him  back  to  his  Father.  Hence,  while  man's  nature 
remains  for  ever  the  same  in  its  essence,  but  puts  on  an 
infinite  variety  of  forms,  and  exists  in  an  infinite  variety  of 
states,  and  has  therefore  an  infinite  variety  of  needs,  these 


THE  POWER   OF  FAITH.  225 

laws  and  ordinances  are  endowed  with  the  capacity  of  perfect 
adaptation  to  all  these  forms,  and  states  and  needs.  There 
is  a  Sabbath  in  the  highest  heaven ;  and  in  its  essence  it  is 
the  same  with  the  Sabbath  among  the  Jews,  while  in  its 
form  and  aspect  it  is  very  different. 


OF   THE   POWER    OF   FAITH. 

In  many  of  these  miracles  it  is  declared,  that  the  faith  of 
the  person  seeking  help  was  not  only  the  condition  on  which, 
but  the  means  by  which,  the  miracle  was  wrought.  "As 
thou  hast  believed,  be  it  done  unto  thee"  (Matthew  viii.  13)  ; 
"  According  to  your  faith  be  it  done  unto  you  "  (Matthevr  ix. 
29) ;  "  If  thou  canst  believe,  all  things  are  possible  to  him 
that  believeth"  (Mark  ix.  23);  "Great  is  thy  faith:  be  it 
unto  thee  as  thou  wilt "  (Matthew  xv.  28)  ;  "  Thy  faith  hath 
saved  thee"  (Luke  xviii.  42);  "Thy  faith  hath  made  thee 
whole"  (Mark  x.  52).  And  when  (Matthew  xvii.  20)  the  ra- 
ging demoniac  whom  the  disciples  could  not  cure  was  cured 
by  the  Lord,  and  they  said  to  Him,  "  Why  could  not  we  cast 
him  out  ?  Jesus  said  unto  them.  Because  of  your  unbelief." 

How  do  these  words  and  facts  rebuke  the  falsity  now  pre- 
vailing far  and  wide,  that  it  is  of  no  consequence  what  a  man 
thinks  or  believes,  provided  he  behaves  well ;  as  if  the 
thoughts  of  the  man,  his  belief,  his  purposes  and  intentions, 
did  not  determine  the  character  and  quality  of  his  actions. 

Faith  is  a  reality ;  and  it  is  a  reality  not  only  of  infinite 
moment,  but  of  vast  power.  It  would  lead  me  quite  too  far, 
to  attempt  to  give  even  a  brief  exposition  of  one  most  im- 
portant truth  revealed  at  this  time ;  I  say  revealed,  because 
it  has  never  before  been  made  known.  This  truth  is,  that 
Truth  is  itself  an  entity,  a  causative  entity ;  the  indispensable 
and  the  living  instrument  by  which  will,  all  will,  God's  will, 
or  man's  will,  does  its  work.  The  divine  wisdom  is  that  by 
which  the  divine  love  created  the  universe^  aud  still,  creates 

15 


226  REALITY  OF  TRUTH. 

it,  for  its  preservation  is  perpetual  creation.  The  thoughts 
of  God  are  in  all  things  of  the  universe,  spiritual  or  material, 
as  causes  are  within  their  effects.  So  also  it  is,  that  the 
thoughts  of  a  man  are  the  instruments,  the  living  instruments, 
by  which  his  affections  become  operative.  Affections  are  as 
ends,  thoughts  as  causes ;  and  all  outward  existences  are 
as  the  effects  in  which  ends  and  causes  are  embodied. 

"  He  that  believeth  is  saved,"  and  only  he,  because  he  only 
has  within  him  that  instrument  by  means  of  which  this  in- 
ward work  can  be  effected.  And  what  his  salvation  is,  and 
how  it  is,  or  the  extent  to  which  and  the  manner  in  which  his 
evil  qualities  and  tendencies  have  been  or  shall  be  removed 
or  suppressed,  and  good  ones  made  to  take  their  place,  must 
depend  absolutely  upon  the  instrumental  causes  by  means  of 
which  this  universal  end  of  the  divine  love,  the  salvation  of 
man,  has  been  in  his  case  effected. 

The  time  will  come,  when  this  central  truth,  that  Truth  is 
itself  real  and  causative,  and  one  of  the  essential  elements  of 
the  divine  nature,  will  be  made  to  cast  its  light  upon  the 
realms  of  created  nature.  And  how  strong,  and  clear  and 
beautiful,  will  be  the  light  which  it  will  throw  upon  those 
dark  regions  of  speculation,  in  which  inquiring  minds  have 
been  seeking  for  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  creation  and 
existence ;  seeking,  but  not  finding ;  wandering  like  blind 
men  who  wander  in  their  own  darkness.  On  this  subject,  as 
on  many  others,  we  have  lost  a  knowledge  which  was  once 
possessed.  To  the  earlier  thinkers,  to  Plato,  for  example, 
as  has  been  well  said  of  late,  the  idea  of  science  without  the 
idea  of  God  was  simply  impossible.  And  because  he  held 
thus  firmly  and  thus  constantly  to  the  belief  of  God,  he 
held  also  that  the  Wisdom  of  God,  forming  itself  into  ideas, 
through  those  ideas  creates  the  universe.  I  do  not  profess 
to  understand  either  Plato,  or  the  work  of  creation,  enough 
to  say  how  far  he  was  right  in  the  forms  and  details  of  his 
philosophy.      But   we   know    that    the    existing   world   of 


PETER'S   WIFE'S  MOTHER.  227 

science  and  philosophy  is,  quite  too  far,  a  world  without  a 
God ;  and  therefore  it  is  a  world  without  a  soul ;  and  there- 
fore it  is  a  world  without  light. 

Each  one  of  these  narratives  of  miraculous  cure  tells  its 
own  especial  truth,  and  this  truth  is  infinite,  and  is  composed 
of  all  truths  which  are  expressed  in  each  and  all  the  facts 
of  every  particular  miracle.  It  would  of  course  be  impossible 
to  give  any  full  account  of  any  one  of  these,  in  its  spiritual 
meaning ;  but  some  of  them  it  may  be  well  to  consider  more 
specifically. 


THE  HEALING  OP  PETER  S  WIFE  S  MOTHER. 

14  And  when  Jesus  was  come  into  Peter's  house,  he  saw  his  wife's 
motlier  laid,  and  sick  of  a  fever. 

15  And  He  touched  her  hand,  and  the  fever  left  her ;  and  she  arose, 
and  ministered  unto  them.  —  Matt.  viii.  14,  15. 

One  of  the  earliest  of  the  miracles  was  this  healing  of  Peter's 
wife's  mother,  who  lay  sick  of  a  fever.  It  is  related  in  the 
three  first  gospels  ;  and  it  has  been  the  subject  of  remark,  that 
such  an  event  as  this  should  be  deemed  worthy  of  a  record  so 
precise  and  circumstantial,  and  so  often  repeated.  Nor  can 
the  narrative  convey  to  any  one  who  reads  only  its  literal 
sense,  any  other  lesson  than  that  which  might  be  taught  by 
any  one  case  out  of  the  "  multitudes  of  the  sick  "  who  were 
brought  to  Jesus  and  were  cured  by  Him.  Far  otherwise  is 
it  when  we  look  at  the  spiritual  sense. 

When  I  have  to  consider  the  calling  of  the  apostles,  I  shall 
endeavor  to  show  that  the  twelve,  in  the  complex,  correspond 
to  and  represent  the  whole  church,  as  did  the  twelve  children 
of  Jacob,  and  the  twelve  tribes  descended  from  them ;  each 
apostle  representing  some  one  of  the  distinctive  elements  of  a 
church,  —  of  a  church,  remembering  that  the  word  is  but  a 
contraction  of  the  Greek  phrase  (kuriou  oikos)  which  means 


228  SICK  OF  A  FEVER. 

"  the  house  of  God ; "  for  a  church,  whether  in  its  collective 
and  widest  sense,  or  in  any  individual  mind,  is  that  condition 
of  mind  which  fits  it  to  be,  distinctly  and  emphatically,  the 
Lord's  dwelling-place,  which  makes  it  "  none  other  but 
the  house  of  God."  Of  the  apostles,  Peter  represents  Faith. 
I  may  hereafter  endeavor  to  illustrate  this,  and  to  show  how 
the  life  of  Peter  presents  a  vivid  picture  of  Faith  in  the  mind, 
with  its  strength  and  its  weakness.  Now  assuming  this,  I  add 
that  where  there  is  a  marriage,  the  husband  has  a  primary 
reference  to  things  of  the  understanding,  and  the  wife  to  the 
corresponding  affections  or  things  of  the  will ;  for  in  every 
man,  as  in  every  woman,  there  is  affection  and  intellect,  but 
in  man  the  intellectual  predominates,  and  in  woman  the 
affectional.  Hence,  if  Peter  denotes  Faith,  the  wife  of  Peter 
denotes  the  love  of  that  faith ;  or  the  affection  which  any  one 
has  for  the  truths  which  he  holds,  or  the  affection  which  opens 
his  mind  for  the  reception  of  that  truth.  And  then  it  is  ob- 
vious, that  the  mother  of  the  wife  represents  the  love  from 
which  the  love  of  these  truths  springs.  For  it  is  plain  that 
a  man  who  holds  certain  truths  may  hold  them  and  love  them 
jfrom  a  vast  variety  of  motives.  If  he  has  no  love  for  them 
whatever,  he  will  not  hold  them  at  all ;  but  he  may  love 
them  because  he  gets  power  by  them,  or  fame,  or  money,  or 
brings  disciples  round  him,  —  or  because  they  make  him  wiser 
and  better. 

But  Peter's  wife's  mother  lay  sick  of  a  fever,  "a  great 
fever ; "  and  it  made  her  powerless  and  useless. 

How  apt  this  is  to  be  the  case,  or  rather,  how  sure  it  is  to 
be  the  case  in  a  greater  or  a  less  degree,  all  men  should  know 
who  are  earnest  in  their  faith ;  and  none  should  know  this 
better  or  remember  it  better,  than  those  who  hold  the  faith 
of  the  New  Jerusalem.  This  fever  comes  and  sickens  us, 
when  our  love  of  our  faith  is  selfish.  It  burns  within  us  in 
the  degree  in  which  we  love  this  faith  because  it  is  our  own, 
and  seek  to  make  proselytes,  and  extend  the  reception  of  our 


LEPROSY.  229 

faith  because  we  desire  to  bring  others  over  on  our  side,  and 
induce  them  to  acknowledge  or  regard  us  as  right  or  wise. 
And  when  this  fever  is  great,  we  are  sick  indeed,  and  useless ; 
and  perhaps  most  useless  when  we  are  most  active  and  urgent, 
and  think  ourselves  most  useful. 

Nor  can  we  become  truly  useful,  unless  we  become  con- 
scious of  our  disease,  and  look  to  the  Lord  for  help ;  for  then 
He  comes,  and  "  rebukes  the  fever,"  and  "  lifts  us  up ; "  for 
then,  and  then  only,  we  may  arise  and  minister  unto  Him  and 
His  church.. 

OF   LEPROSY. 

Perhaps  the  lesson  just  stated  may  be  enforced,  and  may 
help  us  to  be  calm  and  patient  in  our  efforts  to  diffuse  the 
truth,  when  we  remember  what  is  said,  both  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  about  Leprosy.  Of  this  disease,  it  is 
enough  now  to  say,  that  this  fearful  and  destructive  malady 
corresponds  to  and  represents  the  sin,  or  spiritual  disease,  of 
profanation.  But  I  use  this  word  in  the  peculiar  sense  in 
which  it  is  employed  in  the  New  Church.  As  little  is  known 
now  by  Christians  generally  of  profanation,  as  is  known 
among  us  of  leprosy.  Briefly,  it  may  be  defined  as  a  mingling 
of  good  with  evil;  of  truth  with  falsehood;  as  the  seeing 
clearly  and  possessing  fully  spiritual  truth,  and  yet  calling 
it  evil  and  false,  or  subordinating  it  to  evU  purposes  and 
affections. 

When  they  who  saw,  and  made  no  effort  to  deny,  that  our 
Lord  cast  out  devils,  declared,  that  He  cast  out  devils  through 
the  prince  of  the  devils,  our  Lord  replies  to  them,  and  then 
goes  on  to  say,  "  Wherefore  I  say  unto  you,  all  manner  of  sin 
and  blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven  unto  men  ;  but  the  blasphemy 
against  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  not  be  forgiven  unto  men." 
They  to  whom  this  was  said,  saw  clearly,  and  admitted  as  a 
certainty,  the  supernatural  and  miraculous  power  of  the  Lord ; 
but,  that  it  might  not  compel  them  to  obey  ffis  words,  and 


230  PROFANATION. 

put  their  sins  away,  they  called  it  devilish.  The  same 
blasphemy  exists,  wherever  truth  is  clearly  seen,  certainly 
known  and  firmly  fixed  in  the  understanding,  but  has  no 
power  over  the  will,  and  is  renounced  in  the  life.  This 
blasphemy  is  profanation  ;  it  is  the  —  almost  —  unpardonable 
sin ;  it  is  the  —  almost  —  necessarily  fatal  disease  of  the 
soul ;  it  is  the  —  almost  —  incurable  disease  of  leprosy.  They 
who  thus  mingle  truth  and  falsehood  in  the  fabric  and  very 
substance  of  their  own  minds  are  and  must  be  of  all  men 
most  wretched.  To  heaven  they  cannot  go  ;  and  to  them  it 
must  be  difficult  to  find  in  hell  the  relief  which  others  have 
who  are  there  because  they  love  evil  and  falsehood  best,  but 
are  not  tormented  by  the  consciousness  of  truths  which  they 
cannot  cast  forth  from  their  minds. 

All  that  is  said  of  leprosy  m  the  Old  Testament  refers,  in 
the  spiritual  sense,  to  this  condition.  And  the  leper  then, 
and  ever  since,  has  been  separated  from  his  fellow-men  and 
condemned  to  solitude,  or  to  companionship  with  only  his 
like,  to  denote  the  fatal  infectiousness  as  well  as  the  fearful 
character  of  the  disease.  And  this  may  help  those  who 
know  the  correspondence  of  the  disease  to  understand  the 
deadly  nature  of  the  sin. 

In  nothing  is  Divine  Providence  more  watchful  than  to 
guard  men  against  this  terrible  danger.  It  cannot  be  wholly 
prevented  except  by  suppressing  human  freedom,  and  there- 
fore it  is  not  wholly  prevented.  But  men  are  preserved,  as  far 
as  may  be,  by  external  means  and  internal  means,  from  a 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  when  their  states  are  such  that  they 
could  not  yield  obedience  to  the  truth,  nor  acquire  a  love  for  it ; 
or  if,  for  a  season,  they  could  renounce  their  sins  in  obedience 
to  the  truth,  but  would  be  sure  to  return  to  them  with 
deeper  delight. 

The  Love  and  Wisdom  of  God  are  as  perfect  in  His  work 
of  prevention,  as  in  what  He  does  or  permits.  Therefore  it 
is   that  religious   truth   is   given   not  only  in  gradual  dis- 


CAUSES   OF  DISEASE.  231 

pensations,  but  is  never  so  given  to  any  man  as  to  exercise 
irresistible  coercion  over  his  understanding.  And  all  are  free 
to  refuse  to  hear  what  they  do  not  love  to  hear,  to  pass  by 
with  indifference  or  reject  with  contempt,  truths  which  are 
an  immeasurable  good,  when  willingly  received. 

To  profanation  in  its  various  forms,  our  Lord  often  refers ; 
thus  He  said  —  and  always  says  —  to  those  whom  He  has 
cured,  "  Sin  no  more,  lest  a  worse  thing  befall  thee."  So,  in 
the  parable  of  the  evil  spirit,  who,  being  cast  out  of  a  man, 
returned  to  his  house,  and,  finding  it  empty,  swept  and 
garnished,  brought  back  with  him  seven  spirits  worse  than 
himself,  He  said,  "  and  the  last  state  of  that  man  was  worse 
than  the  first." 

It  may  be  well  to  remark,  that  while  the  correspondence 
and  s-ignificance  of  blindness,  deafness,  lameness,  palsy,  lep- 
rosy, are  certain,  and  many  of  them  obvious,  they  do  not  fall 
now,  if  ever  they  did,  upon  individuals,  merely  by  reason  of 
the  internal  disease  existing  in  them  which  this  external 
represents. 

In  heaven  and  in  hell,  all  externals  and  surroundings  are 
adapted  to  each  person.  This  is  there  possible,  because  aU 
are  there  arranged  and  associated  by  affinity,  and  the  char- 
acter of  each  is  definitely  established.  Here  it  is  altogether 
otherwise.  The  good  and  the  evil  mingle ;  and  not  only 
are  good  and  evil  persons  together,  but  good  and  evil  mingle 
in  all  things  and  every  thing  of  earth.  Not  only  the  whole 
earth  and  its  more  general  components,  but  every  thing 
upon  it,  is  but  the  common  resultant  of  a  combined  influx 
from  above  and  from  below,  and  from  various  sources  above 
and  below. 

Diseases  are  effects  manifested  in  the  body.  But  in  the 
body  of  every  man  exist  potentially,  elements  derived  from 
every  ancestor.  In  the  present  state  of  human  knowledge  we 
know  but  little  of  the  effects  of  this  upon  health  or  disease ; 
and  cannot  even  conjecture  in  what  manner  this  all-embracing 


232  MIRACULOUS  FEEDING. 

inheritance  of  qualities  and  tendencies  affects  or  determiaes 
the  operations  of  divine  providence  in  behalf  of  any  man. 

"We  are  not  however  left  to  grope  in  utter  darkness  on  this 
point ;  one  thing  we  are  taught :  no  disease  and  no  calamity 
gives  to  the  sufferer  or  his  neighbors  ground  for  the  fear,  or  the 
reproach,  that  a  correspondent  internal  sin  has  called  it  down. 
"  There  were  present  some  that  told  him  of  the  Galileans, 
whose  blood  Pilate  had  mingled  with  their  sacrifices.  And 
Jesus,  answering,  said  unto  them.  Suppose  ye  that  these  Gali- 
leans were  sinners  above  all  the  Galileans,  because  they  suf- 
fered such  things  ?  I  tell  you  nay.  Or  those  eighteen  upon 
whom  the  tower  of  Siloam  fell,  —  think  ye  that  they  were 
sianers  above  all  men  that  dwelt  in  Jerusalem  ?  I  tell  you 
nay.  .  .  .  And  as  Jesus  passed  by.  He  saw  a  man  which  was 
blind  from  his  birth ;  and  his  disciples  asked  him.  Master,  who 
did  sin,  this  man,  or  his  parents,  that  he  was  born  blind? 
Jesus  answered,  Neither  hath  this  man  sinned  nor  his  parents ; 
but  that  the  works  of  God  should  be  made  manifest  in  him." 

Quite  analogous  to  the  miraculous  cure  was  the  mirac- 
ulous feeding  of  many  thousand  by  a  few  loaves  and  fishes. 
Here  also  each  narrative  is  full  of  specific  instruction  in 
every  one  of  its  specific  facts  and  words.  I  must  confine 
myself  to  stating  the  general  significance  of  these  miracles. 
It  is,  first,  that  it  is  the  divine  power,  only  and  absolutely  the 
divine  power,  acting  usually  through  the  customary  forms  and 
forces  of  created  existence,  —  an  exercise  of  divine  power 
which,  could  we  but  understand  it,  would  seem  to  us  unspeak- 
ably miraculous  and  beneficent,  —  that  provides  by  the  ordi- 
nary methods  of  growth,  and  by  the  few  seeds  sown,  all  food 
and  sustenance.  And  secondly,  if  we  think  of  spiritual  food, 
we  may  learn  that  to  the  soul  that  waits  on  Him  and  looks  to 
Him,  a  little,  very  little,  very  humble  food  in  the  affections, 
thankfully  received  and  acknowledged  as  His  gift,  may  be 
blessed  and  vivified  and  enlarged,  until  the  whole  soul  is 
satisfied  with  food,  even  with  the  bread  of  life. 


DEMONIAC  POSSESSION.  233 


OP    DEMONIAC    POSSESSIONS. 


The  miracles  by  which  devils  were  cast  out  from  persons 
of  whom  they  had  taken  possession  are  generally  regarded 
as  not  merely  analogous  to  the  miracles  of  cure,  but  as  the 
same  thing.  As  demoniac  possession  is  wholly  unbelieved, 
the  recorded  instances  are  explained  as  cases  of  insanity, 
or  of  nervous  or  spasmodic  disease. 

In  this  theory  there  is  some  truth,  but  more  that  is  not 
true.  All  evil  is  the  perversion  of  good ;  all  evil  life  the 
perversion  of  life  which  in  its  origin  was  good.  When  evil 
life  comes  to  man,  it  comes  to  him  from  those  who  have  made 
it  evil  in  themselves  by  choice  and  act,  and  who  are  therefore 
devils,  —  for  there  is  no  other  meaning  to  the  word  devils. 
It  comes  to  man  because  he  desires  it  and  loves  it.  When  it 
brings  pain,  he  does  not  love  the  pain.  But  the  loves  he 
indulges  open  the  mind  to  receive,  and  bring  to  him  by  aflSn- 
ity,  the  life  of  similar  loves  from  them  in  the  other  world 
who  have  made  these  loves  their  life. 

Evil  life  comes  to  man  from  evil  spirits  variously ;  and 
to  no  two  men  does  precisely  the  same  life  come  or  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  way.  But  all  the  ways  in  which  this  life 
comes  to  man  and  is  received  by  him,  may  be  arranged 
into  four  classes. 

The  first  is  that  which  may  be  called  the  common  way,  — 
or  the  normal  way,  so  far  as  any  thing  of  this  kind  can 
be  called  normal.  It  comes  into  the  thoughts  and  affections, 
is  silently  and  unconsciously  received  there,  creates  no  ap- 
parent disorder  and  causes  no  conflict,  and  all  the  man  knows, 
is,  that  he  lives,  thinks,  feels  and  acts,  as  he  chooses  to. 

The  second  is  where  it  enters  into  the  man's  thoughts  and 
affections,  but  meets  active  antagonists  there ;  meets  better 
thoughts  and  better  affections,  which  enter  into  conflict  with 
the  evil.  The  man  is  conscious  of  the  conflict  and  disturb- 
ance within  him,  sometimes  most  painfully  conscious  of  this, 


234  DEMONIAC  ACTION. 

but  does  not  know  the  cause.  And  the  conflict  continues 
until  the  man,  by  his  own  voluntary  choice  and  self-determi- 
nation, gives  the  victory  to  one  or  other  of  the  combatants. 

The  third  way  is,  when  the  conflict  between  the  evil  life 
and  a  better  life  goes  down  into  the  body.  Then  there  is  sick- 
ness, disease  and  pain.  Of  this  disease  the  man  is  generally 
conscious,  but  not  always.  It  is  a  familiar  fact,  that  some  of 
the  most  fatal  diseases  are  insidious  in  their  approach ;  and 
while  gathering  strength  which  cannot  afterwards  be  resisted, 
the  man  is  wholly  unconscious  of  them ;  sometimes  because 
there  are  no  indications  which  could  be  seen,  but  more  often, 
perhaps,  because  these  indications  are  disregarded  as  long  as 
that  is  possible. 

These  three  forms  or  methods  of  demoniac  action  were 
common  enough  in  the  times  to  which  the  Gospels  relate,  and 
before  these  times,  and  have  been  so  ever  since,  and  are  likely 
to  be  so  in  the  future. 

But  there  was  then  and  there  still  another  form  or  method 
of  demoniac  action,  not  so  common.  It  was  a  vast  deal  more 
intense  than  in  the  cases  or  forms  of  action  above  enumer- 
ated. It  conquered  the  man  at  once.  It  beat  down  all  that 
remained  of  his  power  of  self-determination.  It  took  posses- 
sion of  him ;  and  the  common  phrase  "  possessed  of  the  devil " 
described  the  case  with  accuracy. 

It  was  not  uncommon  in  those  times,  because  it  was  then 
that  the  condition  of  mankind  had  fallen  to  its  lowest  jjoint. 
It  was  then  that  the  encroachments  of  evil  through  man's 
voluntary  permission,  and  the  growth  and  establishment  of 
the  power  of  evil  over  man  by  his  voluntary  co-operation, 
and  the  decay  and  suppression  of  human  freedom,  had  gone 
so  far  that  nothing  less  than  an  almighty  power,  working  in 
and  through  a  human  nature,  could  defeat  this  assault  from 
hell,  and  suppress  this  uprising  from  the  kingdom  of  death, 
and  re-establish  the  dying  freedom  of  man. 

It  waa  common  in  Judea,  because  the  Jews  were  still  what 


THE  DEMONIAC  IN  THE  SYNAGOGUE.        235 

they  had  been  from  the  beginning,  the  most  natural  of  man- 
kind. When  the  human  race  had  fallen  so  low,  they  were 
at  the  bottom.  For  this  reason  our  Lord  was  born  in  Judea, 
of  a  Jewish  mother.  There,  more  than  elsewhere,  the  dis- 
tinctive elements  of  human  life  had  been  suppressed,  and  man 
had  ceased  to  be  man ;  there,  more  than  elsewhere,  was  all 
spiritual  wisdom  extinguished.  "  I  looked,  and  behold  there 
was  no  man,  even  among  them  no  counsellor  that  could 
answer  a  word.  .  .  .  And  He  saw  that  there  was  no  man ; 
.  .  .  therefore  His  arm  brought  salvation." 

All  the  particulars  of  the  different  instances  in  which 
devils  were  cast  out  are  significant  by  correspondence,  and 
were  recorded  because  they  were  thus  significant.  Some  of 
them  it  may  be  well  to  notice. 

The  first  man  from  whom  a  devil  that  possessed  him  was 
cast  out,  was  in  the  synagogue  itself. 

23  And  there  was  in  the  synagogue  a  man  with  an  unclean  spirit ; 
and  he  cried  out, 

24  Saying,  Let  us  alone ;  what  have  we  to  do  with  thee,  thou  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  ?  art  thou  come  to  destroy  us  1  I  know  thee  who  thou 
art,  the  Holy  One  of  God. 

25  And  Jesus  rebuked  him,  saying,  Hold  thy  peace,  and  come  out 
of  him.  —  Mark  i.  23-25. 

There,  what  should  have  been  the  heart  and  centre  of  re- 
ligious worship,  instruction  and  authority,  had  become,  by  the 
utter  perversion  of  the  national  mind,  the  stronghold  of  all 
that  was  false  and  evil.  And  in  every  victim  of  demoniac 
possession,  the  very  centre  of  his  heart,  where  the  worship 
of  God  should  reign,  was  opened  to  the  devil,  who  could 
enter  unopposed  and  make  the  man  his  property  and  his  prey. 

In  the  cases  of  cure  properly  so  called,  relief  followed  at 
once  when  the  saving  strength  of  divine  power  was  put  forth. 
But  when  the  devils  were  cast  out  from  the  demoniacs,  they 
threw  their  victims  down,  and  tore  and  tormented  them. 
How  could  it  be  otherwise  ? 


236        THE  DEMONIAC  OF  TEE  OADARENES. 

The  devils  made  some  of  their  victims  "  blind  and  dumb ; " 
and  here  the  inward  inability  to  see  or  to  say  one  thing  that 
was  good  or  true  came  forth  externally.  Others  they  made 
to  dwell  among  the  tombs,  among  the  dead;  and  they  had 
already  slain  within  them  every  thing  which  had  any  thing  of 
genuine  life.  And  others  they  ofttimes  cast  bodily  into 
the  fire,  as  they  had  already  cast  them  spiritually  into  the  fire 
of  unbridled  lust;  and  into  the  water,  which  only  repre- 
sented those  waves  of  falsehood  which  had  gone  over  their 
souls. 

Peculiarly  instructive  in  its  details  is  the  case  of  the  de- 
moniac of  the  Gadarenes,  or  Gergesenes,  —  Matthew  giving 
the  name  of  the  district,  and  Mark  and  Luke  the  name  of  a 
large  city  in  the  district. 


1  And  they  came  over  unto  the  other  side  of  the  sea,  into  the 
country  of  the  Gadarenes. 

2  And  when  he  was  come  out  of  the  ship,  immediately  there  met 
him  out  of  the  tombs  a  man  with  an  unclean  spirit, 

3  Who  had  his  dwelling  among  the  tombs ;  and  no  man  could  bind 
him,  no,  not  with  chains  : 

4  Because  that  he  had  been  often  bound  with  fetters  and  chains,  and 
the  chains  had  been  plucked  asunder  by  him,  and  the  fetters  broken 
in  pieces :  neither  could  any  man  tame  him. 

5  And  always,  night  and  day,  he  was  in  the  mountains,  and  in  the 
tombs,  crying,  and  cutting  himself  with  stones. 

6  But  when  he  saw  Jesus  afar  oflf",  he  ran  and  worshipped  him, 

7  And  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  and  said.  What  have  I  to  do  with 
thee,  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  the  Most  High  God?  I  adjure  thee  by  God, 
that  thou  torment  me  not. 

8  (For  he  said  unto  him,  Come  out  of  the  man,  ikou  unclean 
spirit.) 

9  And  he  asked  him,  What  is  thy  name  ?  And  he  answered,  say- 
ing, My  name  is  Legion  :  for  we  are  many. 

10  And  he  besought  him  much  that  he  would  not  send  them  away 
out  of  the  country. 

11  Now  there  was  there,  nigh  unto  the  mountains,  a  great  herd  of 
swine  feeding;, 


ONE  LIFE,  THE  SOURCE  OF  ALL  LIFE.        237 

12  And  all  the  devils  besought  him,  saying,  Send  us  into  the  swine, 
that  we  may  enter  into  them. 

13  And  forthwith  Jesus  gave  them  leave.  And  the  unclean  spirits 
went  out,  and  entered  into  the  swine  ;  and  the  herd  ran  violently  down 
a  steep  place  into  the  sea  (they  were  about  two  thousand),  and  were 
choked  in  the  sea.  —  Mark  v.  1-13. 

This  wretched  victim  of  infernal  possession  came  from  the 
tombs,  could  wear  no  clothes,  and  night  and  day  was  crying, 
and  cutting  himself  with  stones.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to 
refer  to  the  symbolism  of  garments  and  stones,  as  signifying 
two  classes  of  truths ;  nakedness  representing  the  entire  ab- 
sence of  one  class,  and  the  cutting  himself  with  stones,  the 
injuring  himself  by  the  truths  of  the  other  class  perverted 
into  falsehoods.  He  broke  all  the  chains  and  fetters  which 
could  be  placed  upon  him;  "neither  could  any  man  tame 
him."  No  man,  who  was  only  man,  could.  No  man  could 
fetter  or  control  or  tame  these  devils,  for  they  had  become 
too  strong  to  be  withstood  by  human  strength,  until  unlimited 
divine  power  could  work  through  a  human  nature  and  human 
strength. 

But  the  devils  who  had  got  possession  of  these  men  rec- 
ognized this  power,  and  knew  that  they  could  not  strive 
against  it.  They  begged  that  "he  would  not  torment 
them ; "  that  "  he  would  not  conmiand  them  to  go  out  into 
the  deep ; "  that  "  he  wotild  suffer  them  to  enter  into  the 
swine."  And  when  they  were  permitted  to  do  this,  "the 
herd  ran  violently  down  a  steep  place  into  the  sea,  and  per- 
ished in  the  waters." 

A  volume  would  not  contain  all  the  truths  that  we,  even 
in  our  present  darkness,  may  discover  in  this  narrative.  But 
only  such  a  statement  can  now  be  attempted  as  may  be  com- 
pressed within  a  few  lines. 

Because  there  is  but  one  Life  in  Itself,  and  this  Life  is  the 
source  of  aU  derivative  life,  all  animals  as  well  as  man  exist 
by  the  influx  of  this  life ;  in  each  animal,  as  in  man  himself, 


238  MOW  ANIMALS  LIVE. 

and  in  every  substance  in  the  universe,  be  it  sun  or  star,  or 
tree,  or  cloud,  or  wind,  or  rock  or  a  grain  of  sand,  this  influ- 
ent Life  which  causes  the  recipient  thing  to  be,  is  itself  de- 
termined in  its  activity  or  manifestations  by  the  form  or  in- 
most character  and  purpose  of  the  recipient  thing.  All  of  the 
elements  of  this  life  co-exist  in  unity  in  God.  All  co-exist, 
potentially,  in  man ;  because  he  alone  among  animals  is  an 
image  of  God.  Each  man  is  characterized  by  the  active  prev- 
alence of  one  or  more  of  these  elements  and  the  greater  or 
less  suppression  of  the  remainder.  But  animals  have  some 
only  of  these  elements  of  divine  life  and  derived  human  life. 
And  the  animals,  of  each  species,  contain  only  those  elements 
which  make  them  to  be  of  that  species.  Animals  are  lower 
than  and  outside  of  men  in  this  world  and  in  the  spiritual 
world ;  for  they  exist  in  both.  They  exist,  because  they  re- 
ceive from,  or  rather  through,  human  beings,  a  life  fitted  to 
become  their  animal  life,  and  to  make  them  to  be  what  they 
are.  This  life  is  fitted  to  become  their  life,  by  the  characters 
of  those  human  beings  from  whom  it  comes  to  them ;  for  in 
those  human  beings  it  acquires  the  qualities  which  adapt  it 
to  become  the  life  of  the  animals  who  receive  it. 

The  difference  between  this  world  and  the  other,  or  be- 
tween the  things  and  creatures  of  this  world  and  those  of  the 
other,  may  be  considered  in  connection  with  other  topics.  Here 
we  can  only  say,  that  precisely  as  it  is  the  greatest  happi- 
ness of  the  angels  to  have  their  life  flow  forth  and  animate 
good  men,  so  it  is  a  lower  and  a  lesser  happiness  to  have  it 
flow  forth  and  animate  those  innocent  and  useful  and  beauti- 
ful animals  which  represent  the  life  they  receive.  And  as  it  is 
a  great  delight  to  the  devils  to  have  their  life  flow  forth  and 
animate  evil  men,  so  it  is  a  great  relief  to  them  to  have  it 
flow  forth  and  animate  the  cruel,  destructive,  crafty,  or  filthy 
animals  which  represent  the  life  they  receive. 

They  begged  for  this  relief,  and  they  received  it.  But 
the  devils  who  had  thus  possessed  and  thus  tormented  the 


DEVILS  NOT  CAST  INTO  HELL.  239 

poor  men  who  were  their  victims  were  themselves  so  given 
up  to  imbridled  lust  and  utter  filthiness,  that  they  could  only 
madden  and  destroy  the  animals  they  had  begged  leave  to 
enter  into. 

But  what  is  represented  by  that  destruction  ?  The  devils 
begged  not  to  be  cast  into  the  deep,  or  sea.  The  sea,  in 
relation  to  the  dry  land,  means  the  natural  or  external 
man,  the  dry  land  being  the  internal.  The  sea  means  this 
either  in  a  good  or  a  bad  sense,  accordingly  as  it  represents 
the  natural  degree  of  life  of  the  man  who  has  become  re- 
generate, or  the  natural  of  him  who  is  only  natural.  And 
when  the  sea  represents  the  wholly  and  wilfully  unregenerate 
natural  man,  it  represents  Hell. 

The  devils  were  not  cast  into  hell.  They  never,  never,  are 
cast  into  hell.  They  are  never  condemned  by  our  Father  to 
hell,  or  sent  there  by  Him.  They  pray  not  to  be  tormented  ; 
and  only  when  they  are  tormented  with  punishment  and  pain 
do  they  call  it  Hell.  Nor  are  they  so  tormented,  if  they  do 
not  make  it  necessary  for  their  own  good  that  they  should  be. 
They  pray  to  be  permitted  to  live  out  their  selfish  and 
natural  lives ;  and  they  are  permitted  so  to  live  and  to  enjoy 
all  the  delights  of  such  a  life,  with  such  limitations  and  under 
such  restraints  as  will  be  best  for  them  ;  they  are  permitted  to 
infuse  their  life  into  men  so  far  as  it  is  well  for  men  that  this 
should  be,  and  into  animals  so  far  as  to  make  those  ani- 
mals lead  lives  true  to  their  proper  order  and  nature.  But 
when  their  infernal  loves  and  lusts  uprise  in  rebellion,  and 
refuse  all  restraint,  then  they  are  made  to  know  themselves. 
The  glory  of  God  shines  full  upon  them ;  and  the  light  of 
His  presence  is  intolerable  truth,  and  the  warmth  of  His 
presence,  from  their  utter  opposition  and  antagonism,  burns 
like  fire.  They  rush,  as  down  "a  steep  place,"  and  cast 
themselves  into  Hell.  They  are  punished,  if  they  need 
punishment ;  they  are  tormented,  if  they  need  so  much  as 
this  to  reduce  them  to  the  order  of  which  they  are  capable. 


240  THE  LORD  IS  LOVE  EVERYWHERE. 

There  they  seek  and  find  the  relief  and  ease  of  spiritual 
death ;  of  the  death  which  is  untroubled  by  any  thought  of 
spiritual  truth,  or  by  any  feeling  of  spiritual  affection.  They 
perish,  as  far  as  immortals  may.  They  may  again  —  if  they 
learn  from  the  discipline  sent  to  teach  them  —  come  into  the^ 
delights  which  are  still  possible  for  them.  And  always  infi- 
nite and  inexhaustible  love  provides  for  them  a  way  of  life, 
in  which  the  opposing  elements  of  truth  and  good  are  inac- 
tive and  unknown  in  the  consciousness  of  these  self-deter- 
mined devils,  but  they  are  still  taught  and  restrained  and 
guided  in  such  wise  as  they  may  be  without  destruction. 
"  If  I  go  down  into  hell,  lo,  Thou  art  there."  And  wherever 
He  is,  He  is  Love,  because  He  cannot  be  any  thing  else. 
And  there,  as  everywhere,  infinite  love  and  wisdom  and 
power  are  put  forth  to  give  to  men  all  the  enjoyment  they 
can  be  made  wUling  to  accept. 


OF  THE  PARABLES.  2^11 


CHAPTER  X. 

OF   THE  PARABLES. 

Our  Lord  spake  many  things  in  parables.  It  is  therefore 
necessary  to  a  just  understanding  of  His  words,  that  we  should 
know  what  parables  are,  and  why  He  spake  in  parables. 

The  common  idea  of  a  parable  is,  that  it  says  one  thing  and 
means  another.  This  is  true ;  but  the  thing  said  must  not  be 
in  opposition  to,  or  in  contradiction  of,  the  thing  meant.  A 
man  may  say  one  thing  and  mean  another,  in  either  of  two 
ways.  He  may  say  something  for  the  purpose  of  misleading 
the  hearer ;  of  preventing  that  which  is  in  his  own  mind  from 
being  seen ;  of  producing  an  impression  which  is  the  opposite 
of  the  truth.  K  he  so  speaks,  he  utters  a  falsehood.  But  if 
he  says  one  thing  for  the  purpose  of  leading  the  hearer  to  what 
else  he  means,  of  suggesting  the  truth  which  for  some  reason 
he  thinks  it  best  to  intimate  thus  indirectly,  he  then  utters  a 
parable. 

The  words  said  may  suggest  the  thing  meant  by  some  law 
of  analogy ;  or  by  stating  strongly  some  single  instance  which 
wiU  bring  to  mind  a  general  rule  or  truth ;  or  by  saying 
something  which  is  true  on  a  lower  plane  of  thought,  and 
suggests  at  once  a  similar  truth  on  a  higher  plane.  A  parable 
may  be  either  of  these,  or  all  of  these  together. 

In  the  Bible,  proverbs  and  parables  are  spoken  of  as  if  they 
were  almost  the  same  thing.  We  commonly  make  a  wider 
distinction  between  them.  And  yet  all  proverbs  are  parables. 
A  vast  part  of  the  common,  practical  wisdwa  of  most  nations 

16 


242  MEN  AND  ANIMALS. 

is  expressed  and  made  familiar  to  the  common  mind  by 
proverbs.  A  brief  consideration  of  any  of  the  most  common 
would  show  that  they  often  —  either  by  some  analogy,  or  by 
a  sharp  and  striking  instance  of  some  general  principle,  or 
by  suggesting  higher  forms  and  applications  of  the  truths  they 
express  —  do  in  fact  teach  important  truth  under  trivial  or 
jesting  expressions. 

Not  only  is  all  poetry  full  of  parables,  or  of  calls  upon  the 
imagination  to  perceive  more  than  the  words  express ;  and 
not  only  does  all  rhetoric  and  all  literature  permit  a  frequent 
appeal  to  this  power  of  imagination,  —  but,  as  has  been  il- 
ready  said,  nearly  all  our  language  is  founded  upon  it. 

It  is  indeed  true,  that  a  large  proportion  —  and  the  more  we 
examine  into  it  the  larger  will  seem  this  proportion  —  of  the 
thought  and  speech  of  man  is  parabolic.  But  this  is  true  of 
man  only.  We  have  no  reason  whatever  to  believe,  and  we 
have  every  reason  whatever  to  deny,  that  animals  have  any 
portion  whatever  of  this  faculty  or  habit  of  expressing  them- 
selves in  parables.  Let  us  see  if  we  discern  the  ground  or 
cause  of  this  difference  between  man  and  all  other  animals. 

Let  us  assume  that  man  is  immortal  and  beasts  are  not ; 
that,  when  man  dies,  he  begins  to  live  another  life  in  another 
world  ;  that,  when  a  beast  dies,  his  life  terminates.  It  is  plain 
therefore  that  a  beast  can  gain  nothing  by  learning  any  thing 
about  another  life ;  or,  more  accurately,  that  a  beast  cannot 
possibly  learn,  and  could  not,  whatever  might  be  his  power  of 
thought,  learn  any  thing  whatever  about  his  other  life,  for  the 
plain  reason  that  there  is  no  other  life  for  him. 

But  it  is  also  plain,  that  as  man  has  another  life  which  he 
will  live  hereafter,  it  may  be  of  inexpressible  importance  to 
him  to  learn  something  about  that  other  life. 

Let  us  then  put  these  facts  together.  Let  us  remember 
that  man  will  live  another  life,  and  that  it  must  be  of  great 
importance  to  him  to  learn  something  about  it;  that  the 
beasts  will  not  live  another  life,  and  need  not  and  cannot 


CORRESPONDENCE.  243 

learn  any  thing  about  it ;  and  that  man  has  this  faculty  and 
habit  of  thinking  and  speaking  in  parables,  and  beasts  have 
not ;  then  perhaps  we  may  be  able  to  regard  it  as  at  least 
probable,  that  man  possesses  this  faculty,  which  he  alone  has, 
that  he  may  by  means  of  it  acquire  the  knowledge  which  he 
alone  needs. 

This  faculty  enables  him  to  acquire  this  knowledge,  because 
by  means  of  it  he  may  discern  the  higher  truth  which  lies 
within  lower  forms.  He  may  begin  with  thinking  of  the 
lowest  and  simplest  things,  and  adjust  his  words  to  them ;  and 
then,  by  a  perception  of  which  he  may  or  may  not  be  con- 
scious, see  that  what  is  true  of  the  thing  in  his  hand  or  under 
his  eye  is  true  of  the  thing  in  his  mind  and  in  his  heart ;  so 
entirely  true,  that  the  same  word  which  expresses  this  truth 
in  its  lowest  form,  is  the  best  word  he  can  have  to  express 
the  same  truth  in  its  higher  form. 

But  this  faculty  could  not  exist,  or,  if  it  existed,  there  could 
be  no  possibility  of  its  exercise,  if  it  were  not  grounded  upon 
a  correspondence  between  the  world  without  man  and  the 
world  within  him.  For  if  there  were  no  such  correspondence, 
it  is  plain  that  what  was  true  of  the  one  would  not  be  true 
of  the  other ;  and  therefore  a  truth  told  about  the  one  would 
tell  nothing  about  the  other.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  if  it 
be  true,  as  all  human  life  and  thought  and  conversation  tes- 
tify, that  what  is  true  of  one  is  true  of  the  other,  then  must 
it  be  certain,  that  the  one  corresponds  to  the  other.  There 
can  be  no  better  proof  and  no  clearer  assertion  of  the  cor- 
respondence between  two  things,  than  to  say  that  what  is 
true  about  the  one  is  true  about  the  other. 

That  this  correspondence,  or  resemblance,  or  analog}"^,  exists 
in  some  general,  indefinite,  and  imperfect  manner,  all  admit 
who  ever  think  about  it.  Indeed  they  cannot  discuss  this 
very  question  without  using  words  which,  by  their  double 
sense,  prove  it.  But  it  is  now  made  known,  that  this  corre- 
spondence not  only  exists  in  fact,  but  is  universal  and  all- 


244  EPICURUS. 

embracing.  Hence,  it  is  not  only  true,  that  some  things 
which  are  true  of  the  world  without  are  also  true  of  the 
world  within,  but  that  whatever  is  true  of  the  world  without 
is  also  true,  in  some  way,  of  the  world  within. 

Hence  also,  we  may  derive  some  conclusions  from  the  con- 
verse of  the  preceding  reasoning.  We  began  with  the  as- 
sumption that  man  is  immortal  and  the  beast  is  not ;  and  we 
thus  accounted  for  the  possession  by  man  of  this  faculty, 
which  is  of  so  much  worth  to  an  immortal  being,  and  the 
non-possession  of  it  by  the  beast,  to  whom  it  would  be  worth- 
less. Beginning  now  with  the  unquestionable  facts  that  man 
possesses  this  faculty  and  the  beast  does  not,  and  that  it  must 
be  of  infinite  value  to  him  that  is  immortal  and  of  no  value 
to  him  that  is  not,  we  may  see  it  to  be  a  reasonable  con- 
clusion from  his  possession  of  this  faculty,  that  man  is  im- 
mortal, and  that  the  beast  is  not. 

In  the  olden  time,  there  were  heathen  philosophers  who 
asserted  the  existence  of  the  gods,  but  declared  that  they 
lived  in  perfect  repose,  lifted  far  above  all  interest  in,  all  care 
for,  and  all  government  of  this  lower  world.  A  belief  in  such 
gods  as  these,  even  if  we  suppose  this  belief  to  be  not  only  pos- 
sible but  actual  and  more  than  verbal,  was  no  belief  in  God. 
The  sect  of  Epicurus  (who  did  not  originate  such  notions 
but  reduced  them  to  a  system)  no  longer  exists  in  name ; 
but  it  has  some  existence  in  fact :  for  they  hold  only  a 
modified  form  of  the  doctrine  of  Epicurus,  who  believe  that 
God  made  the  world  and  filled  it  with  certain  forces  which 
were  subjected  to  certain  laws,  and  then  left  it  to  the  opera- 
tion of  these  forces.  This  view  prevails  extensively;  nor 
indeed  should  we  go  too  far  if  we  said  that  while  it  governs 
absolutely  some  minds,  it  has  an  influence  upon  nearly  all 
minds.  We  fear  that  outside  of  the  narrow  circle  of  those 
who  have  listened  to  the  instruction  of  Swedenborg,  it  woulJ 
not  be  easy  to  find  many  who  have  a  clear  and  constant  per- 
ception of  the  truth,  that  the  continued  existence  of  the 


THE  INFINITE  REACHES  THE  FINITE.        245 

universe  is  a  perpetual  creation.  He  teaches  us,  that  time 
does  not  belong  to  God ;  and  while  the  subjection  of  our  own 
minds  to  the  laws  of  space  and  time  while  we  live  in  this 
lower  world,  prevents  our  forming  any  adequate  conception 
either  of  this  truth  or  of  all  its  consequences,  there  are  some 
things  which  we  may  see  clearly  in  the  light  of  this  truth. 

One  of  these  is,  that  whatever  God  was,  He  is  ;  and  what- 
ever He  did.  He  does.  His  action  to-day  being,  to-day,  in 
and  through  materials  and  agencies  diiferent  from  those  of 
yesterday,  the  results  differ.  But  the  action  is  continuous, 
ever  present,  ever  the  same  in  essence,  and  as  necessary  to- 
day in  order  that  things  may  continue  to  be,  as  it  was  in  the 
beginning  that  they  might  begin  to  be. 

But  how  can  the  Infinite  reach  the  finite  ?  Where  can  they 
meet  ?  How  can  the  unmeasurable  abyss  between  them  be 
bridged  over  ?  Here  is  a  material  world ;  in  aU  its  parts 
subjected  to  the  absolute  control,  and  the  universal  limitation, 
of  time  and  space.  Above  it  is  an  infinite  being,  wholly  in- 
dependent of  time  or  space  or  limitation.  Can  He  come  iu 
contact  with  this  world?  —  or,  if  not,  how  can  He  from  afar 
form  it  and  fill  it  and  govern  it  ? 

It  would  seem  reasonable  to  suppose  that  this  was  done 
through  and  by  means  of  intermediates.  How,  we  know  but 
little  now,  and  never  can  know  aU.  But  we  may  know 
enough  to  say,  that  if  there  be  a  world,  intermediate  iu  its 
nature  between  the  Supreme  Infinite  and  earth.  He  may  use 
this  intermediate  world  as  His  means  of  approach  to  earth. 

This  intermediate  world  we  have  in  the  world  of  mind,  or 
spirit.  This  too  partakes  of  the  lower  world  or  is  so  far 
connected  with  it,  that  it  recognizes  it,  and  uses  it,  and  is 
affected  by  the  laws  and  limitations  of  space  and  time.  But 
it  has  also  an  aspect  toward  the  Infinite.  It  is  affected  by, 
but  is  not  bound  by,  space  and  time.  It  recognizes  them,  but 
it  also  recognizes  itself  in  independence  of  them  ;  and  distinct- 
ly discerns  the  material  universe  as  a  home  which  it  can  in- 


246        WITHOUT  A  PARABLE  SPAKE  HE  NOT. 

habit  and  an  instrument  it  can  use  ;  and  as  existing  outside  of 
itself  and  below  itself.  And  it  can  look  towards  the  Infinite  ; 
it  can  recognize  the  Infinite ;  it  can  begin,  although  humbly 
and  afar  off,  to  rise  towards  the  Infinite ;  and  it  can  at  least 
hope,  that  this  upward  progress  shall  itself  partake  of  the 
Infinite.  The  world  of  mind  thus,  on  the  one  hand,  rests 
upon  the  finite ;  and  on  the  other  reaches  upwards  and 
aspires  towards  the  Infinite.  Assuredly  it  is  not  unreasona- 
ble to  say,  that  by  this  intermediate  world,  the  Infinite  comes 
down  to  the  world  below.  And  then  it  is  not  unreasonable 
to  say,  that  these  two  worlds  must  stand  in  a  certain  definite 
relation  to,  or  in  a  certain  definite  correspondence  with,  each 
other,  to  the  end  that  the  Highest  may  find  in  the  higher, 
a  means  of  approach  to  the  lower.  Nor,  do  we  carry  out 
these  views  to  their  legitimate  consequences,  until  we  say  that 
the  material  world  is,  therefore,  a  sign,  a  symbol,  an  expres- 
sion, a  revelation  of  the  immaterial  world ;  or,  in  fewer 
words,  that  the  universe  of  matter  may  be  regarded  as  one 
great  parable  of  the  universe  of  mind.  Nor  can  we  express 
this  universal  truth  in  a  better  universal  form,  than  by  quot- 
ing an  apothegm  from  the  fragments  ascribed  to  Hermes  Tris- 
megistus.  These  are  fragments  of  what  was  gathered  into  a 
whole  many  ages  later  than  the  period  assigned  to  it,  and 
were  then  ascribed  to  a  mythical  person  ;  but  they  are  frag- 
ments of  a  whole  which  was  intended  to  preserve  the  knowl- 
edge of  an  earlier  age.  One  of  these  fragments  is  this : 
"  There  is  nothing  in  the  world  of  spirit,  which  does  not  ex- 
ist in  the  world  of  matter  in  a  material  way  ;  there  is  nothing 
in  the  world  of  matter,  which  does  not  exist  in  the  world  of 
spirit  in  a  spiritual  way." 

"  Without  a  parable  spake  he  not  unto  them."  In  no  other 
way  could  our  Lord  speak  unto  them.  Every  word  that  He 
uttered  was,  of  necessity,  a  parable.  It  was  spoken  to  them  ; 
but  it  was  spoken  by  the  Infinite  to  the  finite.  If  it  states 
with   distinctness    a   truth    of  the   highest  order   of  truth, 


DISCOURSES   TEAT  ARE  PARABLES.  247 

then,  that  it  might  be  so  spoken  as  to  be  aj^prehensible  by  a 
hnman  intellect,  it  must  clothe  itself  in  a  form  lower  than 
itself ;  and  within  that  form  must  live  higher  and  yet  higher 
degrees  of  iafinite  truth.  It  is  by  means  of  a  parable  of  some 
kind,  that  infinite  Truth,  by  the  necessity  of  its  own  infini- 
tude, ever  does  and  ever  must  address  itself  to  a  finite  under- 
standing. 

And  so  it  may  be  said  that  every  act  of  God,  every  mani- 
festation of  divine  providence,  may  be  regarded  as  a  parable. 
Every  circumstance  of  human  life,  be  it  large  or  less,  be 
it  such  that  the  man  whom  it  affects  is  not  even  conscious  of 
it  or  if  he  knows  it  forgets  it  at  once,  came  down  from 
the  Infinite  ;  its  source  was  infinite  love  ;  its  guide  was  infi- 
nite wisdom  ;  it  was  itself  a  putting  forth  of  infinite  power  ; 
and  it  had  for  its  end  the  infinite  good  of  the  man.  Is  not 
the  whole  external  universe  a  parable,  of  which  the  internal 
universe  is  the  meaning? 

All  the  acts  and  all  the  discourses  of  our  Lord  are  parabo- 
lic. But  many  of  them  cannot  be  seen  to  be  so,  except 
by  the  disclosure  of  their  spiritual  sense  through  the  laws  of 
correspondence.  Others  are  obviously  parabolic,  although 
not  so  in  form  ;  as  His  cleansing  of  the  temple  ;  His  discourse 
with  Nicodemus  concerning  regeneration  ;  His  conversation 
with  the  Samaritan  woman  concerning  the  well  of  Jacob,  and 
the  water  he  would  give  to  them  who  came  to  him  ;  His  wash- 
ing of  the  feet  of  the  disciples ;  His  declarations  that  He 
is  the  bread  of  heaven,  and  that  He  is  the  true  vine ;  his  re- 
quirement that  men  should  eat  His  flesh  and  drink  His  blood  ; 
His  statement  concerning  the  "  temple  of  His  body,"  and  other 
similar  passages  which  it  is  difficult  to  separate  by  any  clear 
distinction  from  some  of  those  which  are  expressly  called  or 
more  usually  considered  as  parables. 

I  cannot  attempt  to  speak  in  detail  of  all  of  these ;  but 
will  consider  some  of  them. 


248  THE  CLEANSING   OF  TEE   TEMPLE. 


THE  CLEANSING  OF  THE  TEMPLE. 

13  And  the  Jews'  passover  was  at  hand ;  and  Jesus  went  up  to 
Jerusalem, 

14  And  found  in  the  temple  those  that  sold  oxen,  and  sheep,  and 
doves,  and  the  changers  of  money,  sitting. 

15  And  when  he  had  made  a  scourge  of  small  cords,  he  drove 
them  all  out  of  the  temple,  and  the  sheep,  and  the  oxen  ;  and  poxu-ed 
out  the  changers'  money,  and  overthrew  the  tables. 

16  And  said  unto  them  that  sold  doves.  Take  these  things  hence : 
make  not  my  Father's  house  an  house  of  merchandise.  —  John  ii. 
13-16. 

When  the  Jewish  Passover  was  near  at  hand,  Jesus  went 
up  to  Jerusalem,  and  finding  in  the  temple  those  who  made 
it  a  house  of  merchandise,  He  drove  them  out. 

The  Passover  is  one  of  the  facts  in  the  history  of  the 
children  of  Israel  which  has  always  been  regarded  as  typical 
and  emblematic,  or  as  having  a  spiritual  reference  and  mean- 
ing. And  St.  Paul  calls  Jesus  Christ  "  Our  passover  sacrificed 
for  us." 

The  Passover  indicates  literally  the  time,  and  spiritually 
the  state,  when  the  line  is  drawn  between  Egypt  and  Israel ; 
between  those  who  choose  the  way  of  death,  and  those  who 
do  not  die,  because  they  are  ready  to  go  out  from  Egypt  and 
begin  the  pilgrimage  which  leads  to  Zion.  We  may  then 
believe  that  at  this  time,  or  in  this  state  of  mind,  the  divine 
influence  draws  especially  near  to  the  temple  of  the  soul, 
which  was  built  to  be  the  House  of  God.  It  finds  it  still 
occupied  by  those  affections,  and  habits,  and  falsities,  which 
have  converted  it  into  a  house  of  merchandise ;  of  sensuous 
and  selfish  merchandise.  They  are  innumerable.  It  is 
thought,  by  commentators,  probable,  that  the  oxen,  the  sheep 
and  the  doves,  were  brought  there  to  be  sold  to  those  who 
bought  these  animals  for  the  purpose  of  sacrifice.  And  the 
money  changers  who  sat  there,  made  their  gains  from  the 
necessities  or  convenience  of  those  who  came  to  the  temple 


NICODEMUS.  249 

from  different  parts  of  Palestine,  or  from  Jewish  settlements 
in  distant  countries,  and  there  made  these  purchases. 

All  this  indicates  that  the  persons,  or  the  states  of  mind, 
herein  referred  to,  are  not  those  which  utterly  reject  and 
deny  the  authority  of  religion  or  even  neglect  its  external 
observances  ;  but  to  those  —  for  our  Lord  scourged  and  drove 
them  away  —  who  make  of  religion  a  matter  of  merchandise. 
Again  we  say,  they  are  innumerable ;  for  they  are  as  many 
as  the  mean,  unworthy,  and  polluting  motives,  which  may 
make  men  outwardly  observant  of  religion.  For  example, 
men  may  do  this  to  make  money  out  of  it ;  or  to  secure  a 
good  and  profitable  or  agreeable  position  in  society ;  or  to 
acquire  honor  and  influence;  or  even,  by  exact  outward 
observance,  to  atone  for  and  obtain  the  right  of  indulging 
favorite  evil  affections  or  an  evil  life,  and  satisfy  so  much  of 
their  conscience  as  still  calls  them  to  pay  some  regard  to 
religion. 

Our  Lord  scourged  them  and  drove  them  away  with  a 
whip  of  small  cords.  And  from  the  temple  of  the  soul  He 
drives  these  states,  these  evil  feelings  and  falsities  away,  if 
only  He  can  save  the  sinful  from  the  death  of  confirmed  sin, 
by  that  "  whip  of  small  cords,"  that  myriad  of  constant  but 
smaller  instructions  and  influences  and  other  modes  of  dis- 
cipline, which  may  at  last  cleanse  the  temple. 

THE    CONVERSATION    VTITH    NICODEMUS. 

1  There  was  a  man  of  the  Pharisees  named  Nicodemus,  a  ruler  of 
the  Jews. 

2  The  same  came  to  Jesus  by  night,  and  said  unto  him,  Rabbi,  we 
know  that  thou  art  a  teacher  come  from  God  :  for  no  man  can  do 
these  miracles  that  thou  doest,  except  God  be  with  him. 

3  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Verilj',  verily,  I  say  unto  thee, 
except  a  man  be  born  agam,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God. 

4  Nicodemus  saith  unto  him.  How  can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is 
old  ?  can  he  enter  the  second  time  into  his  mother's  wombj  and  be 
bornl 


250  s  BEQENERATION. 

5  Jesus  answered,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  except  a  man  be 
born  of  water,  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God.  —  John  iii.  1-5. 

This  man  was  "  a  Pharisee  "  and  "  a  ruler  of  the  Jews ;  " 
and  he  impersonates  that  class  of  natural  men,  whose  merely 
external  goodness  gives  them  prominence  and  influence ;  they 
value  goodness,  and  can  recognize  Christianity  as  the  cause 
and  promoter  of  goodness.  So,  "  they  come  to  Jesus."  But 
they  come  by  night ;  they  come  in  utter  darkness.  And  the 
first  thing  His  religion  does  indeed  tell  them,  will  pour  upon 
their  eyes  the  light  of  morning,  if  their  natural  goodness  is 
willing  to  receive  light  and  life. 

The  Jewish  passover  was  at  hand ;  and  Jesus  had  gone  up 
to  Jerusalem.  The  question  was,  who  of  its  inhabitants  were 
ready  to  set  forth  upon  the  way  of  life  eternal  ?  who  among 
them  would  then  receive  Him ;  not  in  words  only,  but  in 
heart  and  in  life  ?  "  Many  believed  in  His  name  when  they 
saw  the  miracles  which  He  did."  Nicodemus  was  one  of  those 
who  thus  believed.  But  what  was  tlie  character,  what  the 
value  and  efficacy  of  this  belief  ? 

Our  Lord  applied  to  it  an  unerring  test.  He  declared  the 
absolute  necessity  of  Regeneration.  He  asserted  this  need  so 
distinctly  and  so  emphatically,  that  no  one  can  even  pretend  to 
believe  the  Gospels,  or,  in  other  words,  to  be  a  Christian,  and 
deny  the  necessity  of  regeneration,  whatever  that  may  mean. 

Hence,  while  no  question  has  ever  been  made  as  to  this 
need,  all  controversies  on  the  subject  have  turned  upon  the 
nature  of  regeneration.  It  has  been  held  by  some  to  be  a 
work  effected  at  once  by  baptism ;  and  this  may  be  regarded 
as,  theoretically,  the  doctrine  of  the  Roman  Church,  and  of 
the  English  Episcopal  Church.  The  system  of  belief  which 
calls  itself  Evangelical  Orthodoxy  regards  it  as  the  effect  of 
the  imputation  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ  to  those  who 
were  elected  before  the  world  was  and  predestined  to  have 
faith  in  Him  and  thereby  receive  this  imputation.     And  what 


BEQENERATION.  251 

may  be  called  either  Naturalism  or  Rationalism  regards  re- 
generation as  only  the  improvement  and  confirmation  of  the 
natural  goodness  of  man ;  for  which  work  his  own  unaided 
strength  is  sufficient. 

The  answer  of  Nicodemus,  "  How  can  a  man  be  born  when 
he  is  old  ?  can  he  enter  a  second  time  into  his  mother's  womb 
and  be  born  ?  "  indicates  the  answer  that  the  merely  natural 
mind  ever  has  made  and  ever  must  make  to  the  requirement 
of  Regeneration.  If  the  goodness  be  only  natural,  or  in  no 
degree  originating  in  or  animated  by  a  recognition  of  the 
necessity  of  divine  assistance  and  the  duty  of  obedience  to 
God  and  of  avoidance  of  evil-doing  as  sin  against  Him,  —  and 
if  nothing  more  is  asked  than  to  grow  better  in  the  way  in 
which  one  is  already  good,  there  is  no  objection  and  no  diffi- 
culty. But,  to  be  "  born  again  "  !  To  have  new  and  different 
motives,  purposes,  and  views  of  all  things ;  to  become  a  new 
man  in  affection,  thought  and  belief;  to  bring  into  natural  life 
and  natural  goodness  and  natural  enjoyment,  a  new  soul ;  — 
all  this  seems  to  the  merely  natural  man,  upon  whom  spiritual 
light  has  not  yet  dawned,  a  simple  impossibility ;  as  incon- 
ceivable in  fact  as  entering  again  into  the  mother's  womb.  And 
if,  by  any  means,  a  merely  natural  man  could,  with  no  change 
of  character,  be  brought  to  believe  that  he  must  have  a  new 
goodness,  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  imagine  any 
thing  more  than  an  increase  of  the  goodness  he  has  already. 
It  would  be  only  entering  again  into  his  mother's  womb,  and 
being  born  again  just  what  he  was  before.  And  this  would 
seem  to  him  equally  useless  and  impossible. 

But  what  we  are  told  is,  that  "  except  a  man  be  born  of 
water  and  of  the  spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  God."  Here  is  a  peremptory  and  unqualified  statement. 
"We  may  reject  it ;  but  if  we  do  not,  we  must  ask  what  it 
means.  He  is  born  of  water  when,  by  obedience  to  the  truth, 
as  God's  truth,  his  external  life  is  cleansed  from  sin.  He  is 
born  of  the  spirit,  when  this  obedience  is  spiritual ;  when  it 


252  THE  SERPENT. 

knows  that  the  power  to  obey,  the  very  desire  to  obey,  must 
be  from  God,  and  from  His  present,  constant,  and  acknowl- 
edged help  and  influence.  This  help  and  influence  must  be 
acknowledged,  and  received  by  man  voluntarily  and  in  his 
own  freedom,  or  they  cannot  produce  the  new  faith,  and  the 
new  nature. 

The  succeeding  verses  tell  us,  that  as  the  Serpent  was  lifted 
up  in  the  wilderness,  so  must  the  Serpent  within  us,  or  our 
sensuous,  natural,  self-seeking  and  self-worshipping  nature,  be 
lifted  up  in  our  wilderness ;  that  so  the  Son  of  Man  lifted  up 
the  nature  he  received  from  his  mother,  and  we  must  follow 
in  the  path  He  trod. 

The  Serpent,  —  that  cannot  leave  the  ground,  but  must 
always  be  in  contact  with  it  or  with  something  growing  upon 
it,  but  is  there  agile,  or  powerful,  or  poisonous  beyond  aU 
animals,  —  the  Serpent  always  represents  the  sensuous  nature 
of  man,  his  sensuous  affections  and  his  sensuous  understand- 
ing ;  or  that  part  of  his  nature  which  is  in  contact  with  the 
earth  and  the  things  of  earth.  From  the  part  he  plays  in 
the  fall  of  man,  and  the  fiery  serpents  who  slew  the  Israelites, 
and  the  brazen  serpent  which  Moses  lifted  up,  and  from  every 
other  mention  of  it  in  the  Bible,  infinite  instruction  is  deriv- 
able as  to  this  sensuous  nature,  the  mischiefs  it  woi'ks  when 
unregenerate,  and  the  process  of  its  regeneration. 

That  we  may  better  know  what  regeneration  is,  our  Lord 
tells  us,  in  this  connection,  what  condemnation  —  the  exact  op- 
posite of  regeneration  —  is.  "  This  is  the  condemnation  ;  that 
light  is  come  into  the  world,  and  men  loved  darkness  better 
than  light,  because  their  deeds  were  evil.  For  every  one  that 
doeth  evil  hateth  the  light,  neither  cometh  to  the  light,  lest 
his  deeds  should  be  reproved.  But  he  that  doeth  truth 
cometh  to  the  light  that  his  deeds  may  be  made  manifest,  that 
they  are  wrought  in  God."  And  if  the  question  then  occurs 
Where  is  this  light,  and  what  is  it  ?  let  us  remember  that  Jesus 
Himself  declared,  "  I  am  the  light  of  the  world."     Why  then 


TEE   WOMAN  OF  SAMARIA.  253 

need  we  doubt  what  regeneration  is  ?  It  is  to  come  to  Jesus 
as  k)  the  light.  To  receive  Him,  and  obey  Him,  as  the  light 
that  came  to  earth  to  lead  us  to  heaven.  To  "let  our  light 
so  shine  before  men,  that  they  may  see  our  good  works,  and 
glorify  our  Father  who  is  in  heaven  ;"  and  who  is  ever  ready 
to  impart  strength  to  all  who  will  receive  it  and  make  use  of 
it  in  their  own  freedom. 


THE   CONVERSATION   BETWEEN   OUR   LORD   AND   THE 
WOMAN    OF   SAMARIA. 

4  And  he  must  needs  go  through  Samaria. 

5  Then  cometh  he  to  a  city  of  Samaria,  which  is  called  Sychar, 
near  to  the  parcel  of  ground  tliat  Jacob  gave  to  his  son  Joseph. 

6  Now  Jacob's  well  was  there.  Jesus  therefore,  being  wearied 
with  his  journey,  sat  thus  on  the  well :  and  it  was  about  the  sixth 
hour. 

7  There  cometh  a  woman  of  Samaria  to  draw  water :  Jesus  saith 
unto  her,  Give  me  to  drink. 

8  (For  his  disciples  were  gone  away  unto  the  city  to  buy  meat.) 

9  Then  saith  the  woman  of  Samaria  unto  him,  How  is  it  that  thou, 
being  a  Jew,  askest  drink  of  me,  which  am  a  woman  of  Samaria?  for 
the  Jews  have  no  dealings  with  the  Samaritans. 

10  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  her.  If  thou  knewest  the  gift  of 
God,  and  who  it  is  that  saith  to  thee.  Give  me  to  drink  ;  thou  wouldest 
have  asked  of  him,  and  he  would  have  given  thee  living  water. 

11  The  woman  saith  unto  him.  Sir,  thou  hast  nothing  to  draw  with, 
and  the  well  is  deep  :  from  whence  then  hast  thou  that  living  water  1 

12  Art  thou  greater  than  our  father  Jacob,  wliich  gave  us  the  well, 
and  drank  thereof  himself,  and  his  children,  and  his  cattle  ? 

13  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  her,  Whosoever  drinketh  of  this 
water  shall  thirst  again. 

14  But  whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him,  shall 
never  thirst ;  but  the  water  tliat  I  shall  give  him,  shall  be  in  him  a 
well  of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life. 

15  The  woman  saith  unto  him,  Sir,  give  me  this  water,  that  I 
thirst  not,  neither  come  hither  to  draw. 

16  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Go,  call  thy  husband,  and  come  hither. 

17  The  woman  answered  and  said,  I  have  no  husband.  Jesus  said 
unto  her,  Thou  hast  well  said,  I  have  no  husband. 


254  SAMARIA. 

18  For  thou  hast  had  five  husbands,  and  he  whom  thou  now  hast 
is  not  thy  husband  :  in  that  saidst  thou  truly.  —  John  iv.  4-18. 

28  The  woman  then  left  her  water-pot,  and  went  her  way  into  the 
city,  and  saith  to  the  men, 

29  Come,  see  a  man  which  told  me  all  things  that  ever  I  did :  is 
not  this  the  Christ  1  —  John  iv.  28,  29. 

The  conversation  betvreen  our  Lord  and  the  woman  of 
Samaria,  at  the  vrell  of  Jacob,  has  always  attracted  much 
attention,  and  has  been  subjected  to  a  great  variety  of  com- 
ment and  interpretation.  If  we  would  now  apply  to  it  the 
principles  of  correspondence  and  thus  discover  its  spiritual 
meaning,  every  minute  fact  and  every  word  would  be  found 
significant,  and  volumes  could  not  exhaust  their  meaning. 
All  that  can  now  be  attempted  is  to  give  a  very  general  view 
of  the  leading  facts  of  the  narrative. 

Much  that  was  said  in  a  former  chapter  of  Galilee  may  be 
said  of  Samaria.  It  had  formed  a  part  of  the  Holy  Land ; 
and  when  the  ten  tribes  revolted,  it  was  included  in  their 
kingdom.  When  conquered  by  the  Assyrians,  the  Israelitish 
inhabitants  were,  for  the  most  part,  removed.  But  the  mixed 
races  who  possessed  the  country  soon  learned  to  reverence 
Jehovah ;  and  asked  and  obtained  from  their  conquerors  an 
Israelitish  priest.  And  when  the  Jews,  on  their  return  from 
captivity,  proposed  to  rebuild  their  temple,  the  Samaritans 
desired  to  participate,  and  were  refused.  And  from  this  time 
(more  than  five  centuries  before  Christ),  a  hostile  feeling 
existed  between  the  Jews  and  the  Samaritans,  and  was  in  full 
force  at  the  coming  of  our  Lord. 

At  that  time  the  Jews  constituted  a  church  only  in  exter- 
nals ;  and  while  their  pride  and  arrogance  and  self-glorifica- 
tion were  excessive,  their  internal  character  was  expressed 
by  their  denial  and  crucifixion  of  our  Lord.  But  the  Sa- 
maritans, while  held  by  them  m  utter  scorn,  possessed  and 
reverenced  the  Bible,  or  a  large  part  of  it,  and  in  a  consider- 
able degree  complied  with  its  literal  requirements. 

From  all  this  we  may  be  prepai-ed  for  the  general  inference 


THE  WELL   OF  JACOB.  255 

that  the  Samaritans,  at  the  time  of  this  narrative,  represented 
tliose  who  might  be  considered  Gentiles  in  reference  to  the 
church,  while  they  were  far  nearer  to  it  than  the  surrounding 
or  distant  nations  between  whom  and  Judea  there  was  no 
acknowledged  relation  whatever. 

If  we  follow  the  spiritual  sense,  which  exists  through  and 
applies  to  all  time,  we  may  say  that  the  Samaritans  represent  * 
those  now  whom  the  strict  adherents  to  the  dogmatic  creeds 
and  forms  of  the  existing  church  would  regard  as  Gentiles, 
and  with  whom  they  could  hold  no  religious  communion. 
And  such  persons  might  not  regard  themselves  as  members 
of  the  church ;  but,  if  represented  by  the  Samaritans,  they 
have  the  Bible,,  and  they  have  some  reverence  for  it,  and 
.  some  love  for  it. 

It  was  a  woman  of  Samaria.  Man  and  woman,  as  has 
been  often  said,  represent  severally  understanding  and  affec- 
tion ;  because  in  man  the  understanding  prevails  and  in 
woman  the  affections.  She  therefore  represented  the  affec- 
tional  condition  of  such  persons ;  and  as  water  universally 
represents  truth,  the  well  of  Jacob  may  be  seen  at  once  to 
represent  the  book  which  contained  the  religious  system  of 
the  descendants  of  Jacob,  or  the  Bible.  And  when  at  the 
present  day,  their  affections  lead  such  persons  to  come  to  it 
and  draw  water  from  it,  they  find  the  Lord  sitting  there. 
And  his  weariness  as  well  as  the  humiliation  and  suffering  of 
his  whole  life,  express  the  absolute  antagonism  between  the 
influences  He  then  desired  and  always  desires  to  exert,  and 
those  opposing  influences  which  must  always  prevail  in  a 
perverted  and  desolate  church ;  and  in  a  mind  not  yet  ready 
to  receive  him,  but  unable  or  unwilling  to  reject  Him 
utterly. 

He  asks  her  to  give  Him  to  drink  from  the  water  of  this 
well. 

Throughout  the  Scriptures,  the  phrase  "  Give  unto  God  " 
is  frequently  recurring;  as  "give  glory,"  "give  greatness," 


256  GIVING  TO  GOD. 

"  give  strength,"  and  the  like.  And  we  give  these  things 
unto  Him,  in  the  only  way  we  can,  when  we  acknowledge 
that  they  belong  to  Him  and  are  from  Him.  Therefore,  we 
obey  this  command,  when  we  give  unto  Him  the  acknowl- 
edgment that  all  the  good  and  truth  we  have  is  His,  and 
from  Him.  On  this  meaning  of  "giving  to  God,"  sacrifices 
were  originally  founded.  Useful  and  harmless  things  were 
offered  on  His  altar,  in  token  of  the  perception  and  acknowl- 
edgment that  they  were  His  gifts  to  men. 

He  asks  of  all  who  now  come  to  the  well  of  Jacob  for 
water,  to  know  and  to  acknowledge  that  He  is  the  only 
source  of  its  truth,  and  of  all  truth ;  that  He  is  truth  itself, 
and  the  light  which  enlightens  all  who  do  not  walk  in  dark- 
ness ;  He  asks  them  to  "  give  unto  God  "  that  which  comes 
from  Him. 

If  to-day,  one  who  is  taught  this  by  the  doctrines  of  the 
New  Church,  and  is  enabled  to  see  it  as  he  sees  the  sun  at 
noonday,  offers  the  blessing  of  this  truth  to  those  who  are 
like  the  Samaritan  woman,  they  might  well  regard  it  as  only 
an  assertion  of  some  religious  dogma ;  they  might  well  reply, 
as  this  woman,  in  substance,  replied,  "  You  forget  that  we  do 
not  profess  to  belong  to  a  church  and  accept  its  creeds.  They 
who  do  so  profess,  say  that  only  in  their  Jerusalem,  in  their 
temple,  should  men  worship.  And  there  we  cannot  go." 
And  the  answer  would  be,  that  the  hour  has  come,  when  the 
true  worshippers  of  the  Father  worship  Him  acceptably,  not 
only  in  all  places  of  the  earth  we  live  in,  but  in  all  regions 
of  belief,  under  all  forms  and  names. 

It  may  be  with  no  disrespect,  and  with  no  disposition  to 
reject  the  truth,  that  such  persons  would  answer  to  the  New 
Church  as  the  woman  answered  our  Lord,  "  Art  thou  greater 
than  our  father  Jacob  ?  "  Do  you  pretend  to  offer  us  more 
than  the  Bible ;  to  give  us  higher  and  better  truth  than  that 
can  tell  us  ?  But  through  the  truth  which  He  now  reveals, 
our  Lord  may  again  reply  to  them  who  know  it  only  as  the 


SHE  HAD  NO  HUSBAND.  257 

well  of  Jacob,  and  read  in  it  only  its  literal  truth  as  a  book 
given  to  the  children  of  Israel,  ''  Whoso  drinketh  (thus)  of 
this  water  shall  thirst  again;  but  the  water  which  I  shall 
give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into 
everlasting  life."  Happy  are  they  who  answer  as  she 
answered,  "  Give  me  this  water." 

The  woman  said  that  she  knew  the  Messiah  would  come, 
and  tell  all  things,  A  positive  love  of  goodness  makes  one 
feel  the  want  of  the  truth  which  teaches  it  and  leads  to  it ; 
the  want  of  divine  help.  It  lifts  the  eyes  to  God,  as  the 
Revealer.  To  this  desire  the  information  is  not  given  in 
vain,  that  He  has  come,  and  that  these  revelations  have  been 
made. 

Our  Lord  said  unto  her,  "  Go,  call  thy  husband  and  come 
hither."  When  a  man  and  woman  are  indeed  married,  the 
man  is  the  truth  of  his  wife's  good ;  it  is  his  work  to  give  to 
her  all  those  truths  and  knowledges  which  are  needed  to  lead 
and  guide  aright  her  affections ;  and  it  is  her  work  to  fill  with 
energy,  life  and  love  all  the  truths  he  knows.  To  go  for  her 
husband,  was  to  go  for  or  seek  for  the  truths  which  her  state 
of  affection  required ;  and  with  that  truth  joined  to  that  affec- 
tion, come  to  Him  for  more  instruction.  Her  response  indi- 
cated and  represented  the  state  of  those  who  have  some  love 
of  good,  but  no  truth  to  lead  them  to  good.  She  said  she 
had  no  husband ;  and  in  the  words  which  follow,  our  Lord 
describes  the  condition  of  such  persons,  when  they  have  been 
wedded  successively  to  one  apparent  truth  and  then  to 
another,  and  now  feel  that  what  truth  they  hold  could  not 
harmonize  with  their  affections  and  lead  and  guide  and 
strengthen  them,  and  be  what  a  husband  is  to  the  wife  of  his 
soul. 

She  represented  those  who  feel  this ;  and  she  expressed  it 
in  the  hope  of  the  Messiah  who  would,  at  last,  tell  her  all 
things.  And  afterwards  she  said  of  Christ  to  her  neighbors, 
"  He  told  me  all  that  I  ever  did."     And  yet  he  had.  told  her 

17 


258  THE  SOWER. 

but  one  thing;  —  that  she  had  no  husband.  But  a  strong 
and  living  desire  for  goodness  inspires  an  equal  desire  for  the 
truth  which  can  lead  to  it ;  and  when  this  affection  feels  that 
it  "  has  no  husband,"  it  is  prepared  to  find  and  to  receive 
in  the  revelations  now  made,  "  all  things ; "  to  see  in 
them  an  explanation  of  divine  pi-ovidence  in  the  events  of 
the  past  life,  and  a  light  for  the  future.  For  let  the  truths 
which  these  revelations  teach,  en.ter  into  the  mind  and  live 
there,  and  day  by  day,  as  thought  wanders  back  and  brings 
up  the  experiences  of  the  past,  the  veils  are  lifted.  We  see 
why  and  whence  these  experiences  came,  sad  and  mournful 
as  some  of  them  were.  We  see  ourselves.  We  see  what 
we  were ;  and  we  see  the  merciful  providence  by  which  we 
have  become  somewhat  better  than  we  were.  And  we  see 
that  the  path  which  led  through  the  past  to  the  present  hour 
may  go  forward  with  a  never  ending  progress. 

^  THE    SOWEK    WHO    WENT    OUT    TO    SOW. 

8  Hearken  ;  Behold,  there  went  out  a  sower  to  sow  : 

4  And  it  came  to  pass  as  he  sowed,  some  fell  by  the  wayside,  and 
the  fowls  of  the  air  came  and  devoured  it  up. 

5  And  some  fell  on  stony  ground,  where  it  had  not  much  earth  ; 
and  immediately  it  sprang  up,  because  it  had  no  depth  of  earth  : 

6  But  when  the  sun  was  up,  it  was  scorched ;  and  because  it  had 
no  root,  it  withered  away. 

7  And  some  fell  among  thorns,  and  the  thorns  grew  up,  and  choked 
it,  and  it  yielded  no  fruit. 

8  And  otlier  fell  on  good  ground,  and  did  yield  fruit  that  sprang  up, 
and  increased,  and  brought  forth,  some  thirty,  and  some  sixty,  and 
some  an  hundred. — Mark  iv.  3-8. 

In  some  instances  our  Lord  gives  the  explanation  of  a 
parable ;  but  the  explanation  is  itself  a  parable.  Thus,  he 
had  spoken  of  the  sower  whose  seed  fell,  some  by  the  wayside, 
some  on  stony  ground,  some  among  thorns,  and  some  on 
good  ground.  "And  when  he  was  alone,  they  that  were  about 
him,  with  the  twelve,  asked  of  him  the  parable.     And  he  said 


WHY  MEN  CLOSE   THEIR   OWN  EYES.        259 

unto  them,  Unto  you  it  is  given  to  know  the  mystery  of  the 
kingdom  of  God :  but  unto  them  that  are  without,  all  these 
things  are  done  in  parables.  That  seeing  they  may  see  and 
not  perceive ;  and  hearing  they  may  hear  and  not  under- 
stand ;  lest  at  any  time  they  should  be  converted  and  their 
sins  be  forgiven  them." 

What  can  be  more  positive  or  direct  than  this  assertion 
that  the  Divine  Providence  purposes  and  desires  to  avoid 
converting  sinners,  lest  their  sins  should  be  forgiven  them  ? 
But  they  who  read  this  assertion  must  have  a  very  low  and 
false  idea  of  Divine  Providence,  if  they  are  not  sure  that 
within  it  there  must  lie  a  meaning  by  which  it  may  be  ex- 
plained and  qualified.  We  may  begin  to  see  this  meaning, 
when  we  compare  this  passage  from  Mark,  with  the  similar 
passage  in  Matthew.  There  we  read  that  seeing  they  see 
not,  and  hearing  they  hear  not,  because  their  ears  are  dull, 
lest  they  shouj^  hear,  and  they  have  closed  their  own  eyes  lest 
they  should  see,  and  be  converted  and  healed.  That  is,  the 
deafness  and  the  blindness  are  their  own  voluntary  work, 
and  spring  from  a  confirmed  unwillingness  to  be  converted 
and  healed.  This  then  is  their  choice,  their  work;  and  all 
that  God  does,  is  not  to  violate  their  choice,  or  prevent  their 
work  against  their  will. 

Here  we  have  a  most  important  lesson,  repeated  in  very 
many  places ;  and  it  is  one  that  cannot  be  learned  too  well. 
It  is,  that  the  providence  of  God  always  respects  and  pre- 
serves the  freedom  of  man.  I  have  already  endeavored  to 
show,  that  in  the  New  Church  we  are  taught  why  this  is  ;  for 
we  learn  that  the  divine  providence  thus  tenderly  and  watch- 
fully preserves  the  freedom  of  man,  because  this  freedom  is 
the  means  and  the  instrument,  the  indispensable  means  and 
the  only  possible  instrument  by  which  the  constant  purpose 
of  God  with  man  can  ever  be  accomplished ;  for  that  pur- 
pose is,  the  converting  of  his  love  of  evil  into  the  love  of 
good,  by  the  man's  own  willing  co-operation.     And  this  truth 


260    FOR   THE  HARDNESS   OF  THEIR  HEARTS. 

is  the  key  to  all  the  mysteries  of  God's  providence  for  man. 
"We  learn  not  only  that  this  freedom  is  for  this  reason  pre- 
served, but  we  learn  how  it  is  preserved.  For  we  are  taught 
that  earth,  and  every  thing  and  every  creature  upon  it,  is 
between  heaven  and  hell.  A  man  may  be  at  one  moment 
nearer  heaven,  and  at  another  nearer  hell,  but  he  is  at  every 
moment  between  them,  and  never  so  near  either  that  the 
influences  which  at  any  moment  prevail  within  him,  are  not, 
in  some  degree  mingled  with  and  qualified  by  opposing  influ- 
ences ;  and  between  these,  the  man  stands,  with  a  life  given 
to  him  from  God  to  be  Ms  own ;  to  be  his  own  in  freedom, 
in  duty  and  in  responsibility ;  and  with  full  power  to  turn  him- 
self to  the  one  or  the  other  of  these  influences,  as  he  will. 
Hence  it  is,  that  the  divine  influence  is  able,  at  every  hour 
of  liis  life,  to  do  all  that  can  be  done  in  the  way  of  leading  or 
bending  or  guiding  him  to  good,  without  ever  forcing  him 
into  a  direction  which  he  would  be  sure  to  l«p,ve  as  soon  as 
his  freedom  was  restored.  This  subject  is  however  more 
folly  considered  in  other  chapters,  where  the  nature  of  man, 
and  the  doctrine  of  human  selfhood  are  considered. 

From  this  passage  we  may  learn  yet  another  lesson  about 
the  literal  sense  of  Scripture.  It  is,  that  in  this  sense,  truths 
are  often  made  to  bear  the  aspects  which  the  states  to  which 
they  are  addressed,  would  impart  to  them.  "  For  the  hard- 
ness of  their  hearts,"  it  is  so  written.  Thus  God  is  said,  in 
some  places,  to  be  angry,  unforgiving,  and  revengeful  to 
remote  generations.  For  so  it  seems  to  those  who  are  angry 
with  him,  and  cannot  forgive  the  seeming  unkindness  which 
is  intended  for  their  good ;  and  who,  confirming  in  their  own 
nature  evil  dispositions,  transmit  them  to  their  posterity  as 
tendencies  to  evil.  So,  it  has  been  not  uncommon  to  hear 
men  say,  that  if  God  chose  to  convert  them  he  would,  and 
if  he  chose  not  to  they  could  not  help  it ;  that  what  he  had 
foredoomed  must  come  to  pass ;  and  that  if  they  were  sinful 
because  he  would  not  have  them  otherwise,  it  was  not  their 


SATAN.  261 

fault  but  his.  Some  feeling  of  this  kind  has  prevailed  quite 
■widely.  How  is  it  possible  that  such  persons  should  see  his 
providence  otherwise  than  as  if  he  made  their  ears  dull  and 
closed  their  eyes  and  spoke  in  words  they  could  not  under- 
stand, lest  they  should  experience  that  conversion  and  heal- 
ing and  forgiveness,  which  it  was  his  pleasure  that  they 
should  not  have  ?  And  such  persons  are  left  to  think  so,  if 
they  would  be  sure  to  reject  the  truth  which  would  set  them 
right,  and  would  therefore  be  the  worse  for  it. 

And  our  Lord  says  to  his  disciples,  "Blessed  are  your  eyes 
for  they  see,  and  your  ears,  for  they  hear."  And  then  he 
goes  on  to  explain  to  them  this  parable.  But  the  explana- 
tion is  itself  again  a  parable,  for  without  a  parable  He  did 
not  speak  to  them  and  could  not. 

Satan  who  cometh  immediately  and  catcheth  away  the 
word  sown  by  the  wayside  (better  rendered,  "  aside  from 
the  way  "),  is  the  false  belief  or  persuasion  that  at  once  con- 
tradicts and  denies  the  truth,  when  it  falls  only  aside  from 
the  paths  their  minds  habitually  go  in  and  love  to  go  in ; 
for  it  is  foreign  to  their  thoughts  and  is  not  truth  to  them. 

And  he  who  heareth  the  word  with  joy,  and  is  offended 
when  persecution  and  tribulation  arise  because  of  it,  is  he  who 
is  delighted  with  the  new  truth  and  with  his  accession  of 
wisdom,  but  is  at  once  offended  when  he  hears  this  truth 
command  him  to  renounce  his  worldliness,  and  his  cherished 
lusts,  and  they  rise  up  to  trouble  and  persecute  him.  His 
lusts  or  the  truth  must  die  ;  and  his  lusts  do  not  die. 

And  the  cares  of  this  world,  and  the  deceitful  riches, 
which  are  as  thorns  that  choke  the  seed,  are  either  the  ex- 
ternal cares  and  riches  which  are  all  that  most  men  think 
about,  or  the  internal  cares  about  internal  riches,  it  may  be  of 
truth,  or  even  of  good  conduct,  which  may  yet  deceive  a  man 
into  the  belief  that  he  is  wise  with  his  own  wisdom,  and  good 
with  his  own  goodness,  and  that  his  salvation  is  his  own  work. 
They  are  the  "  deceitful  riches  "  which  cannot  but  suffocate 


262  TARES  AMONG   TEE   WHEAT. 

the  seeds  which  he  who  sowed  them  would  have  fructify  unto 
that  life  which  is  from  God,  and  when  it  is  not  perverted  is 
able  and  glad  to  acknowledge  its  origin  and  source. 

They  who  receive  the  seed  into  good  ground  bear  fruit, 
some  thirty-fold,  some  sixty-fold,  some  an  hundred.  Every 
one  sees  that  this  means,  that  they  bear  fruit  variously.  But 
the  science  of  correspondence  and  its  laws  apply  even  to 
numbers.  Each  of  them  has  its  spiritual  force  and  meaning, 
from  which  its  natural  force  and  meaning  are  derived.  Here 
we  can  only  say,  that  three  classes  of  persons,  or  three  modes 
of  fructification  are  here  referred  to,  which  are  as  definite  and 
distinct  as  are  the  numbers  used  to  indicate  them. 


OF  THE  TARES  SOWN  AMONG  THE  WHEAT. 

24  Another  parable  put  he  forth  unto  them,  saying,  The  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  Hkened  unto  a  man  which  sowed  good  seed  in  his  field : 

25  But  while  men  slept,  his  enemy  came  and  sowed  tares  among 
the  wheat,  and  went  his  way. 

26  But  when  the  blade  was  sprung  up,  and  brought  forth  fruit,  then 
appeared  the  tares  also. 

27  So  the  servants  of  the  householder  came  and  said  unto  him. 
Sir,  didst  not  thou  sow  good  seed  in  thy  field  1  from  whence  then  hath 
it  tares  ? 

28  He  said  unto  them.  An  enemy  hath  done  this.  The  servants 
said  unto  him,  Wilt  thou  then  that  we  go  and  gather  them  up  ? 

29  But  he  said.  Nay ;  lest,  while  ye  gather  up  the  tares,  ye  root  up 
also  the  wheat  with  them. 

30  Let  both  grow  together  until  the  harvest :  and  in  the  time  of 
harvest  I  will  say  to  the  reapers.  Gather  ye  togetlier  first  the  tares, 
and  bind  them  in  bundles  to  burn  them  :  but  gather  the  wheat  into  my 
barn.  —  Matt.  xiii.  24-30. 

While  we  are  as  unconscious  as  they  who  sleep,  the  enemies 
of  our  souls  are  implanting  germs  of  evil,  or  vivifying  them, 
and  they  become  parts  of  our  life.  Because  they  are  parts 
of  our  life  they  are  not  crushed  out ;  but  if  the  good  grows 
into  predominance  over  the  evil,  in  the  harvest  of  judgment 


TRUTHS  NOT  LOVED  ARE  LOST.  263 

the  evil  will  be  separated  from  the  ruling  good  withia,  and  sup- 
pressed. But  nothing  is  done  violently.  Our  whole  character 
must  grow  up  by  gradual  development,  first  the  blade,  then 
the  ear,  and  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  In  this  par- 
able, as  in  others  which  have  been  or  remain  to  be  considered, 
the  great  doctrine  is  inculcated,  of  human  freedom,  power  and 
responsibility. 

Because  this  world,  and  all  persons  and  things  in  it  are 
between  heaven  and  hell,  every  man  has  something  in  his 
character  of  heaven,  and  something  of  hell ;  and  every  man 
carries  with  him  to  the  other  world  something  which  was  of 
heaven  and  something  of  hell;  for  the  best  of  men  have 
something  which  needs  to  be  gathered  together  and  burned 
ujj,  as  well  as  something  worthy  of  preservation ;  and  all  bad 
men  have  with  that  which  originates  in  the  love  of  self,  some- 
thing also  bearing  at  least  the  aspect  of  the  love  of  the  Lord 
or  of  the  neighbor,  however  low  its  true  character  may  be. 
No  man  therefore  goes  instantly  upon  his  resurrection  either 
to  heaven  or  to  hell,  because  he  is  not  fully  prepared  for 
either ;  but,  as  has  been  already  said,  into  "  The  World  of 
Spirits." 

For  men  live  in  this  world  to  detei*mine  whether  they  shall 
become  angels  or  devils.  They  live  in  the  World  of  Spirits 
to  ascertain  whether  they  have  become  angels  or  devils.  If 
the  love  of  good  rule  within  them,  all  opposing  loves  are 
gradually  suppressed  or  eliminated,  and  their  love  of  good, 
whatever  it  may  be,  becomes  free,  dominant  and  uncontra- 
dicted. The  truth  which  judges  them,  shows  to  them  their 
falses  and  their  evils  clearly ;  and  these  falses  and  evils  are 
burned  up  in  that  fire  of  hatred  of  all  evil  which  they  gladly 
receive  from  God  and  his  angels ;  while  all  things  true  and 
good  in  them  are  purified  and  cleansed  and  gathered  into  His 
garners  within  their  souls.  They  then  become  associated,  by 
the  mere  force  of  affinity,  with  those  like  unto  themselves ; 
or  those  with  whom  a  similar  love  of  good  reigns.     They 


264  THE   GRAIN  OF  MUSTARD-SEED. 

become  angels  and  are  associated  with  angels.     They  take 
their  place  in  heaven. 

If  the  love  of  evil  rules  in  men,  all  good  is  only  outside 
and  apparent ;  and  all  such  good  is  gradually  removed  or 
suppressed.  The  truths  they  have  held,  but  have  neither 
loved  nor  lived,  are  lost.  The  affections  which  simulated 
good,  while  in  their  true  nature  they  were  selfish  and  evil, 
cast  off  their  disguise.  Tlie  love  of  evil  becomes  in  appear- 
ance as  in  fact  the  love  of  their  life,  and  by  the  force  of 
affinity,  they  take  their  place  with  their  like,  and  are  in 
heU. 

OF    THE    GRAIN    OF    MUSTARD-SEED. 

31  Another  parable  put  he  forth  unto  them,  saying,  The  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  like  to  a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  which  a  man  took  and 
sowed  in  his  field : 

32  Which  indeed  is  the  least  of  all  seeds ;  but  when  it  is  grown, 
it  is  the  greatest  among  herbs,  and  becometh  a  tree,  so  that  the  birds 
of  the  air  come  and  lodge  in  the  branches  thereof.  —  Matt.  xiii.  31,  32. 

If  good  seed  be  sown,  though  it  be  "  less  than  all  the  seeds 
that  be  in  the  earth,"  yet  the  perfect  wisdom  of  our  Father 
may  give  to  it,  through  all  opposing  influences,  growth  and 
supremacy.  Blessed  be  the  mercy,  which  gives  to  the  fear- 
ful and  the  sorrowing,  who  know  how  little  of  pure  and 
genuine  good  is  in  them,  the  hope,  that  even  this  little  will 
not  perish,  but  may  grow,  under  the  fostering  care  of  omnipo- 
tence, into  much,  and  into  all.  But  something  is  said  in  this 
parable  of  the  mustard-seed  which  calls  for  more  particular 
notice. 

It  has  already  been  often  said,  and  will  be  often  repeated, 
that  as  all  things  in  a  man's  nature  refer  either  to  what  is 
affectional,  or  to  what  is  intellectual,  so  the  universe  outside 
of  them  has  a  similar  reference.  Seeds  refer  to  the  intellect- 
ual kingdom,  and  rejiresent  truths  of  a  certain  order.  In 
a  seed,  whether  vegetable  or  animal,  a  preceding  life,  and 


WHAT  SEEDS  ABE.  265 

a  preceding  series  of  lives,  have  terminated.  It  is  an  organ- 
ism, formed  by,  and  containing  the  sum  and  the  whole  series 
of  vital  influences  which  terminate  in  it.  One  who  takes  in 
his  hand  a  minute  seed,  does  not  stop  to  think,  that  he  holds 
in  his  hand  the  ultimation  of  an  unmeasurable  series  of  cau- 
sative influences.  But  there  they  are,  and  in  such  a  form, 
that  they  "may  perish,  or  may  live  ;  and  if  they  live,  may  give 
origin  to  a  new  life,  which  shall  again  be  ultimated  in  new 
seeds.  It  may  be  long  in  the  mind,  latent  and  unknown,  as 
seed  wheat  lay  in  the  mummy  tombs  of  Egypt  which  is  now 
growing  in  the  fields  of  Europe.  But  it  still  lives  ;  and 
every  living  seed  has  in  it  the  possibility  of  infinite  mul- 
tiplication and  eternal  duration  in  its  progeny. 

So  it  is  with  certain  truths  in  the  mind.  Seeds  are  of  all 
magnitudes,  from  the  acorn  which  infolds  the  germ  of  an 
oak,  to  the  mere  point  which  the  microscope  can  scarcely  detect, 
from  which  may  grow  the  smallest  vegetable  moss  or  mould  ; 
and  to  the  multitude  of  yet  minuter  germs,  of  which  science 
is  yet  only  able  to  conjecture  that  they  float  in  the  air.  And 
so  it  is  with  truths.  But  when  such  a  truth  comes  before  the 
consciousness  of  man,  or  indeed  it  may  be  in  his  mind  but 
not  in  his  consciousness,  it  is  the  effect  and  product  of  a  vast 
series  of  causes,  and  contains  a  vital  principle  which  may 
spring  forth  in  growth  and  fruit.  And  it  has  too  the  possi- 
bility of  never-ending  reproduction,  multiplication  and  dura- 
tion in  its  progeny.     It  has  the  possibility  of  eternal  life. 

When  the  seed  becomes  a  tree,  greater  than  all  herbs, "  the 
fowls  of  the  air  may  lodge  under  the  shadow  of  it." 

One  general  division  of  the  kingdom  of  nature  refers  the 
solid  earth  with  all  its  fields  to  the  affectional  part  of  man, 
while  the  water  which  flows  around  it,  and  the  air  which 
flows  around  the  water,  are  referred  to  the  intellectual  part. 
And  the  animals  which  walk  the  earth  are,  in  general,  referred 
to  the  affectional,  and  those  that  swim  in  the  sea,  or  fly 
through  the  air  are  referred  to  the  intellectual. 


266  PERCEPTIONS. 

Animals  which  fly  through  the  air  are  either  insects,  or 
birds.  And  insects  are  as  thoughts,  while  birds  are  as  percep- 
tions. Every  one  who  reflects  for  a  moment  will  see  that 
there  is  an  essential  difference  between  the  mere  thought  of  a 
thing  and  the  perception  of  a  truth.  This  last  is  almost 
affectional ;  for  while  it  is  clearly  intellectual,  or  of  the  under- 
standing, it  springs  from  some  emotion  or  affection.  It  is 
like  the  birds,  which  have  what  insects  have  not,  heart  and 
lungs  and  blood.  It  may  be  as  long  in  coming  into  form  as 
the  egg  of  the  eagle  is  in  being  hatched ;  and  may  come  as 
slowly  to  maturity  as  the  eaglet ;  but  then  it  will  be  a  living 
perception  of  truth.  And  when  truths  of  that  kind  and 
order  which  are  represented  by  seeds,  grow  into  trees  and  put 
out  great  branches,  it  is  their  shelter,  their  support  and  con- 
firmation, which  these  perceptions  seek. 

But  how  far  shall  we  go  in  the  effort  to  state  or  to  illus- 
trate such  remarks  as  these?  How  little  do  any  know  and 
how  little  can  any  teach  about  such  things,  at  present !  And 
how  little  is  there  in  science,  philosophy  or  religion,  now, 
which  can  accept  instruction  founded  upon  the  great  truth, 
that  the  universe  is  God's  constant  work,  and  that  He,  even 
with  all  His  infinitudes,  is  mirrored  in  His  work !  If  a 
naturalist,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  science  of 
botany,  presented  a  seed  to  a  man  utterly  ignorant  and  yet 
believing  his  ignorance  to  be  knowledge,  and  spoke  to  him 
of  the  exquisite  organization  which  the  germinative  principle 
formed  in  that  seed,  and  of  its  wonderful  method  of  develop- 
ment, that  man  would  look  upon  him  as  that  naturalist  may 
look  upon  what  I  have  said  of  the  spiritual  laws  and  nature 
of  seeds  and  their  correspondence.  But  what  he  now  knows 
was  not  known  a  few  years  since ;  and  what  he  does  not  now 
know  may,  in  the  coming  years,  take  its  place  in  science. 
It  would  indeed  be  impossible  to  attempt  to  say  one  word 
of  this  kind,  but  for  the  hope,  that  however  humble  it  cer- 
tainly is,  and   however   insignificant  it   may  seem,  it  may 


HEAVEN  COMPARED   TO  A  NET.  267 

yet  be  a  living  seed;   and,  if  it  be  so,  may  fall  into  good 
ground. 

THE   KINGDOM   OF   HEAVEN   COMPARED   TO   A  NET. 

47  Again,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  net,  that  was  cast 
into  the  sea,  and  gathered  of  every  kind : 

48  "Which,  when  it  was  full,  they  drew  to  shore,  and  sat  down,  and 
gathered  tlie  good  into  vessels,  but  cast  the  bad  away. 

49  So  shall  it  be  at  the  end  of  the  world :  the  angels  shall  come 
forth,  and  sever  the  wicked  from  among  the  just, 

60  And  shall  cast  them  into  the  furnace  of  fire :  there  shall  be 
wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  —  Matt.  xiii.  47-50. 

In  our  Lord's  explanation  of  the  parable  of  the  tares  and 
the  wheat,  He  speaks  of  "  the  time  of  harvest ; "  and  in  that 
in  which  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  compared  to  a  net,  cast 
into  the  sea,  and  gathering  of  every  kind,  he  declares,  that 
"  at  the  end  of  this  world,  his  angels  shall  gather  otit  of  his 
kingdom  all  things  that  offend,  and  them  which  do  iniquity, 
and  shall  sever  the  wicked  from  among  the  just,  and  shall 
cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire ;  there  shall  be  wailing 
and  gnashing  of  teeth."  And  in  a  later  parable,  concerning 
the  division  of  the  sheep  from  the  goats,  he  says,  "  When  the 
Son  of  Man  shall  come  in  his  glory ;  .  .  .  then  shall  he  say 
unto  them  on  his  left  hand,  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into 
everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels.  .  .  . 
And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment ;  but 
the  righteous  into  life  eternal." 

Here  is  a  declaration  that  the  wicked  shall  be  cast  into 
hell ;  a  statement  when  this  shall  be ;  and  what  hell  is;  But 
all  this  is  delivered,  as  a  parable.  What  meaning  do  we  find 
within  the  letter  ? 

The  appalling  description  of  hell-fire,  and  of  the  eternal 
agony  prepared  for  sinners,  have  been  very  widely  regarded  as 
literally  true,  and  probably  are  so  regarded  now  by  many 
persons.  Nor  would  these  descriptions  have  been  given,  had 
it  not  been  intended  by  divine  mercy  that  they  should  be 


268  TEE  END   OF  THE   WORLD. 

so  believed.  But  in  this  literal  form  they  put  on  their 
lowest  and  outermost  expression,  because  in  this  form  they 
may  reach  minds  of  the  lowest  and  most  external  character, 
which  could  not  be  reached  by  the  correspondent  higher  truths 
if  they  were  expressed  in  any  higher  form. 

When  thus  believed,  by  those  of  this  character,  they  may 
do  their  proper  work  of  repressing  their  evils;  of  turning 
them  from  actual  sin ;  of  preventing  the  indulgence  of  lusts 
and  sinful  tendencies  and  thus  weakening  their  power. 
When  they  have  this  effect,  and  in  proportion  as  they  have 
it,  they  lift  the  man  up  into  the  possibility  of  understanding 
higher  truths  and  being  affected  by  higher  motives.  For  this 
is  the  universal  law  of  the  literal  sense  of  the  word.  Its 
constant  purpose  in  every  part  is  to  impose  that  self-restraint, 
to  induce  that  conduct,  to  cause  that  change  of  character, 
which  may,  step  by  step,  lift  the  man  up  within  reach  of  the 
higher  senses.  Hence  this  literal  sense  is  not  to  be  destroyed, 
but  to  be  fulfilled ;  for  then  only  is  it  enabled  to  fulfil  its 
proper  office. 

"  The  end  of  this  world "  comes  to  every  man  when  he 
dies.  So  far  as  he  is  concerned,  it  is  as  if  the  moment  after, 
the  earth  became  'ashes  or  nothing.  At  this  end  of  the 
world  for  each  man,  he  comes  to  the  judgment ;  or,  better, 
judgment  comes  to  him.  Then  the  Son  comes  in  His  glory ; 
for  His  glory  is  His  divine  Truth,  and  this  truth  judgeth  the 
man.  "  The  word  that  I  have  spoken,  the  same  shall  judge 
him  at  the  last  day."  In  the  20th  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse 
a  judgment  is  described.  "  I  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great, 
stand  before  God ;  and  the  books  were  opened."  These 
books  are  the  books  which  all  men  carry  with  them  into  the 
other  world  ;  and  in  which  all  things  which  they  have  thought, 
felt,  said,  done  or  been,  are  recorded ;  these  books  are  their 
own  memories. 

Of  late  years  the  indestructibility  of  thought  has  become 
admitted  as  a  scientific  fact.     The  statement  is  often  made, 


THE   TWO  BOOKS.  269 

and  evidence  of  various  kinds  has  accumulated,  to  the  effect 
that  while  any  thing  may  be  forgotten  so  as  to  be  beyond 
voluntary  recall,  nothing  can  be  so  forgotten  as  to  be  l;^st 
from  the  mind ;  and  every  thing  whatever  that  is  ever  in  the 
mind  may  always  afterwards  come  up  into  consciousness  and 
recollection.  The  approach  of  death  has  been  seen  to  do 
this  work  of  awakening  slumbering  memories  to  a  most  re- 
markable degree.  Death  does  it  absolutely ;  not  by  reviving 
for  all  men  all  their  past  states,  but  all  past  states  which  the 
man  himself  needs  to  know  that  he  may  learn  what  manner 
of  man  he  is.  Thus  is  the  book  of  his  life  opened.  And 
then  it  is  said,  "  And  another  book  was  opened  which  is  the 
book  of  Life."  This  is  the  book  of  genuine  Life ;  of  God's 
own  Life ;  it  is  the  book  in  which  the  working  of  the  Life 
of  God  in  its  whole  providence  towards  man  is  recorded ;  it 
is  the  Word  ;  it  is  "  The  word  which  I  have  spoken  which 
shall  judge  him  at  the  last  day."  And  then  we  are  told 
how  this  judgment  is  effected.  "  And  the  dead  were  judged 
out  of  those  things  which  were  written  in  the  books,  accord- 
ing to  their  works."  The  things  written  in  the  books  are 
the  things  written  in  the  two  books ;  in  the  book  of  the 
man's  own  life,  and  in  the  book  of  divine  Life.  By  the  har- 
mony, or  the  opposition,  between  the  things  in  these  two 
books,  between  his  works  and  the  law  given  to  him,  he  is 
judged,  —  most  mercifully ;  yea,  with  infinite  mercy ;  but  by 
a  justice  which  cannot  fail,  and  a  wisdom  which  cannot  err. 

From  what  has  been  said  of  the  World  of  Spirits,  it  may 
be  seen  that  this  judgment  may  not  be  speedy ;  the  disclosure 
may  be  gradual,  and  pass  through  many  stages.  But  the  end 
is  sure.  This  end  is,  that  it  shall  be  certain  and  apparent,  so 
certain  and  apparent  that  neither  the  man  himself  nor  his 
neighbors  can  avoid  knowing,  precisely  what  the  man  is. 
And  so  he  judges  himself. 


270  NEW  WINE  IN  NEW  BOTTLES. 


OF   THE    PARABLE    OF    THE    NEW  WINE   REQUIRING 
NEW   BOTTLES. 

16  No  man  putteth  a  piece  of  new  cloth  unto  an  old  garment ;  for 
that  which  is  put  in  to  fill  it  up  taketh  from  the  garment,  and  the  rent 
is  made  worse. 

17  Neither  do  men  put  new  wine  into  old  bottles ;  else  the  bottles 
break,  and  the  wine  runneth  out,  and  the  bottles  perish ;  but  they 
put  new  wine  into  new  bottles,  and  both  are  preserved. — Matt.  ix. 
16,  17. 

We  easily  apprehend  a  part  of  the  meaning  of  the  parable 
in  which  our  Lord  declares  that  new  wine  must  be  put  into 
new  bottles,  because  if  put  into  old  bottles,  they  would  be  de- 
stroyed and  the  wine  would  be  lost.  In  our  days  these  words 
have  lost  their  literal  truth,  because  our  bottles  are  made  of 
glass,  and  do  not  grow  weaker  by  age.  "When  these  words 
were  spoken,  bottles  were  made  in  Judea  of  skins,  as  they 
now  are  in  many  eastern  countries,  and  the  parable  was 
literally  true.  Of  late,  there  is  some  effort  to  change,  in  our 
translation,  the  word  "  bottles  "  into  the  word  "  skins,"  or,  at 
least,  "  vessels."  And  it  has  always  been  understood  that  the 
text  indicated  a  necessity  for  preparation  and  adaptation 
before  truth  could  be  safely  or  usefully  received.  This  is  so ; 
and  no  part  of  this  doctrine  shall  we  lose ;  but  we  shall  con- 
firm it,  and  see  its  reason  and  its  extent,  by  looking  at  the 
spiritual  sense  of  this  parable.  Here,  as  so  often  when  we 
attempt  to  apply  the  principles  of  correspondence,  we  must 
begin  with  regarding  a  truth,  which  we  have  been  in  the 
habit  of  regarding  not  as  a  truth,  but  as  a  pleasing  analogy, 
which  gives  point  to  a  moral,  or  may  be  used  in  an  indefinite 
poetical  way,  —  we  must  begin  with  regarding  this  truth  as  a 
truth ;  as  a  simple,  certain,  exact  truth.  It  is  such  a  truth, 
that  we  are  only  vessels,  recipient  of  life.  It  is  not  more 
true,  not  more  scientifically  or  more  rigorously  true,  that  a 
bottle  is  a  vessel,  containing  the  wine  within  it,  than  it  is  that 
a  man  is  a  vessel  containing  the  life  that  is  in  him.     So  is 


WHY  MAN  EXISTS.  271 

it  true,  that  every  thing  which  exists  is  such  a  vessel ;  for 
every  thing  exists  because  a  causative  creative  power  and 
principle  is  within  it,  and  fills  it,  and  in  this  way  makes  it 
what  it  is. 

This  is  a  universal  truth ;  and  connected  with  it  is  another 
universal  truth ;  which  is,  that  every  thing  is  what  it  is,  be- 
cause the  causative  principle  is  adapted  by  the  One  central 
Cause  from  whom  all  causes  come,  to  make  that  thing  what  it 
is.  A  stone  at  our  feet,  is  that  stone,  because  it  is  a  vessel 
which  is  recipient  of  an  active  cause,  by  which  it  is  formed 
and  by  which  it  is  filled,  and  the  stone  is  only  that  cause  so 
existing  and  manifested.  And  the  whole  manifestation  and 
action  of  that  creating  and  sustaining  life,  in  that  stone,  is 
again  determined  by  the  form  (or  inmost  nature)  of  that 
stone,  which  form  was  given  to  that  stone  that  it  might  per- 
form its  required  function. 

Between  the  within  and  the  without  of  the  stone  there  is 
a  perfect  harmony ;  and  so  there  is  in  all  existing  things 
in  all  the  realms  of  being,  until  we  come  to  man.  And  here 
it  is  different.  Here  the  bottle  may  be  suited  to  the  wine, 
or  it  may  not  be. 

The  stone,  the  tree,  the  animal,  is  what  it  is,  and  can  be 
nothing  but  what  it  is.  But  the  infinite  love  of  God  is  not 
satisfied  with  this.  All  these  lower  things  are  created  by 
infinite  love  which  cannot  but  act,  and  in  all  its  action  is 
guided  by  infinite  wisdom.  And  man  is  created  the  head,  the 
heart,  and  the  possessor  of  the  universe,  that  the  infinite  love 
of  God  may  be  satisfied.  Man  exists,  that  a  being  may 
exist  to  which  this  love  may  impart  itself,  and  its  own  happi- 
ness, in  the  greatest  possible  degree  and  with  never  ending 
enlargement.  Man  exists,  that  there  may  be  beings  to  whom 
God  may  impart  His  own  life.  His  own  love,  and  His  own 
happiness ;  not  as  these  exist  in  Him ;  for  there  cannot  be 
two  Lifinites,  and  therefore  God  cannot  create  another  God ; 
not  as  they  exist  in  stones,  in  trees  or  animals,  for  in  these 


272        WHAT  MAKES  A  MAN  TO  BE  A  MAN. 

there  is  a  positive  limit  that  may  never  be  passed;  but  in  as 
high  a  degree  as  may  be  possible ;  and  therefore  with  the 
possibility  of  perpetual  and  never-ending  increase  and  exalta- 
tion of  that  degree.  And  the  divine  love  is  satisfied  exactly 
in  the  degree  in  which  this  end  —  the  existence  of  beings 
receptive  of  divine  life  and  happiness  —  is  attained. 

Whatever  there  may  be  in  the  divine  life  which  it  is  im- 
possible for  us  to  know  or  conceive  of,  there  are  some  things 
we  may  know,  — some  things  which  we  are  necessarily  sure  of 
if  we  have  any  real  belief  whatever  that  there  is  a  God.  The 
first  of  these  is,  that  He  must  be  a  free  and  conscious  Person. 
Free,  to  love,  and  to  do  and  be  what  His  love  desires ;  and 
conscious  of  so  loving,  living  and  acting ;  and  then  we  may 
know  that  His  happiness  is  that  of  being  thus  free,  thus  acting, 
and  thus  conscious.  Here  there  are  certainly  elements  of  the 
divine  life ;  and  here  therefore  must  be  elements  of  the  life 
which  divine  love  desires  to  impart  to  man. 

The  mineral  kingdom  cannot  satisfy  the  divine  love, 
because  it  is  neither  free  nor  conscious.  Animals  cannot 
satisfy  the  divine  love,  because,  although  conscious,  they  are 
not  free.  Human  beings  may  satisfy  the  divine  love,  because 
they  may  be  both  free  and  conscious  of  their  freedom. 

A  stone  is  only  a  vessel  receptive  of  life,  and  a  man  is  just 
as  much  so ;  because  neither  man  nor  any  created  existence 
can  be  any  other  thing  than  such  a  vessel ;  for  the  plain  rea- 
son that  there  can  be  but  one  being  or  life  that  is  Life  in 
Itself;  and  all  other  being  or  life  must  be  life  received  from 
that  life. 

We  see  therefore  that  a  man  does  not  differ  from  a  mineral 
or  an  animal,  in  the  fact  that  he  is  a  vessel  recipient  of  life ; 
and  we  must  look  for  the  difference  between  them  somewhere 
else.  We  find  it  in  the  fact,  that  a  man  has  a  power  over 
himself,  which  nothing  lower  than  man  possesses.  He,  like 
all  other  things,  is  a  vessel  recipient  of  life ;  and  of  him  it  is 
true  as  of  all  other  thiugs,  that  what  this  life  becomes  in  its 


CONSCIOUSNESS   OF  FREEDOM.  21B 

individuality  and  manifestation,  depends  upon  the  vessel. 
There  the  difference  begins ;  it  consists  in  the  fact  that  he 
has  a  power  over  himself  which  nothing  below  man  has.  He 
is  a  vessel,  only  a  vessel ;  but  he  is  such  a  vessel  and  so 
recipient  of  life,  that  the  life  which  lie  receives  becomes  his 
ovm  life,  and  imparts  to  him  the  power  of  changing  the  qual- 
ity, the  character  and  the  form  of  the  recipient  forms ;  he 
has  therefore  the  power  of  becoming  other  than  what  he  was 
when  he  began  to  be ;  and  he  alone  has  this  power. 

This  power  arises  from  the  consciousness  and  the  freedom 
which  are  given  to  him ;  they  make  him  to  be  a  human 
being ;  or,  in  other  words,  he  is  a  human  being  because  he  is 
so  created  that  they  may  be  given  to  him  and  he  may  receive 
and  possess  them.  He  was  thus  made  a  human  being,  that 
the  divine  love  which  created  him  may  not  only  flow  into  him 
but  carry  with  it  its  own  happiness.  He  is  created  in  the 
image  and  likeness  of  God,  that  the  divine  life  with  its  love, 
wisdom,  power  and  happiness  may  flow  into  him.  And  he  is 
created  more  and  more  into  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  as 
these  are  permitted  by  him  to  become,  without  perversion, 
his  own  life.  Whether  they  do  this,  or  how  far  they  do  this, 
depends  upon  his  form  as  a  vessel  recipient  of  life.  And 
consciousness  and  freedom  and  personality  are  given  him, 
that  he  may  change  this  form ;  that  he  may  for  ever,  by  the 
perpetual  change  of  this  form  for  the  better,  co-operate  with 
his  Creator  in  building  himself  more  and  more  into  the  image 
and  likeness  of  God. 

For  this  end  consciousness  and  freedom  are  given ;  and  for 
this  end  they  are  necessary  and  indispensable.  And  the  love 
of  God  desires  that  they  should  be  perfect;  and  that  the 
happiness  thence  resulting  should  be  consummate.  But  none 
of  them  approach  perfection  in  the  beginning  of  life ;  they 
are  then  permitted  to  be  imperfect  and  qualified,  to  the  end 
that  they  may  attain  to  the  highest  possible  perfection  here- 
after and  retain  it  and  grow  in  it  for  ever. 

18 


274  THE   WORK  OF  DEVILS. 

In  this  world,  even  the  consciousness  of  man  is  obscured 
and  limited ;  he  is  indeed  unconscious  of  the  infinitely  greater 
part  of  what  is  within  him,  or  of  his  inner  self.  And  of  what 
he  knows  he  sees  the  larger  part  only  in  such  wise  that  the 
shadows  of  uncertainty  sometimes  rest  upon  it.  So  also  his 
freedom,  while  here,  is  never  perfect.  It  always  exists ;  it  is 
always  and  mercifully  preserved  and  protected.  But  the 
good,  the  eternal  good  of  every  man  requires,  that  it  should 
be,  in  some  measure,  qualified  and  restrained.  They  who 
have  gone  down  to  their  place  in  the  kingdom  of  falsehood 
and  evil,  would  not  find  freedom,  or  consciousness  of  freedom, 
always  a  blessing.  And  therefore  it  is  mercifully  taken  from 
them ;  sometimes  so  taken  that  almost  none  is  left.  But 
these  unhappy  ones  have  their  hold  on  us.  And  it  is  they 
who  infuse  the  doubts  which  sometimes  darken  men's  minds 
about  human  freedom,  and  the  truth  of  human  consciousness ; 
and  it  is  they  who  prevail  in  the  mind  in  which  those  doubts 
are  confirmed. 

This  is  the  work  of  devils.  Let  us  know  that  our  freedom 
and  our  consciousness  of  freedom  are  somewhat  restrained  and 
obscured.  But  let  us  know  why  this  is,  and  what  is  the 
measure  of  this  restraint.  Let  us  know,  that  man's  freedom 
is  qualified  and  restrained,  just  so  far  as  that  he  may  be  in- 
fluenced, guided,  moved  and  led,  sometimes  by  what  seems  to 
be  compulsion,  sometimes  by  what  is  compulsion  as  to  con- 
duct, —  but  always  towards  freedom.  He  is  guided  and  led, 
but  never  forced  to  goodness,  for  the  plain  reason  that  it 
would  not  then  be  goodness.  Often,  —  always  when  it  is 
possible,  —  he  is  so  led  and  guided,  that  he  may  be  induced  to 
compel  himself  voluntarily ;  to  compel  his  outer  and  worse 
man  to  obey  his  inner  and  better  man.  And  it  has  already 
been  said,  that  never  is  a  man  in  so  much  freedom  as  when 
he  is  thus  forcing  himself  into  the  right  path.  The  lower 
the  man  is  and  the  farther  off  from  good,  the  more  the  as- 
sistance of  God  seems  to  be  force.     The  higher  he  is,  and  the 


THE   VESSEL  FITTED  FOR  THE  WINE.        275 

nearer  to  goodness,  the  more  it  is  seen  and  known  and  felt  to 
be  that  which  the  love  of  God  desires  that  it  should  always 
be,  assistance  to  the  man,  in  doing  the  work  which  the  man 
loves.  But  only  in  the  other  life  can  this  divine  assistance 
wear  its  true  aspect  of  the  most  tender  mercy,  of  perfect  love. 

New  wine  must  be  put  into  new  bottles.  The  effort  of  di- 
vine providence  to  impart  new  wine  is  constant.  At  times  a 
great  crisis  occurs;  a  church  passes  away  and  a  new  one  is 
given,  by  the  outpouring  of  wine  that  is  wholly  new.  But 
equally  in  great  events  like  these,  and  in  every  event  of  every 
man's  life,  there  is  a  divine  endeavor  to  impart  new  wine ;  to 
make  the  truth  which  governs  the  life  new,  and,  if  much  is  not 
possible,  then  a  little  higher,  better,  purer,  than  it  was  before. 
But  this  cannot  be,  unless  the  man  consents.  It  cannot  be, 
unless  the  vessel  be  fitted  for  the  wine.  If  the  old  truth  be 
taken  away,  and  the  new  truth  is  higher  and  better  than  can 
be  recognized,  obeyed  and  loved,  then  the  vessel  will  be  ruined 
and  the  wine  will  be  lost ;  for  what  old  truth  the  man  had 
has  lost  its  power,  and  the  new  truth  cannot  abide  in  his 
mind  even  if,  for  a  moment,  it  seems  to  enter  into  it.  Most 
merciful  is  the  divine  providence  on  this  point ;  most  watch- 
ful, that  the  wine  shall  not  be  changed,  until  the  vessel  is  at 
least  in  some  measure  ready  to  let  the  old  go,  and  receive  and 
hold  the  new. 

We  have  seen  that  in  existences  below  man,  the  vessel  is 
precisely  suited  to  the  life,  and  there  is  no  conflict  between 
what  is  within  and  what  is  without.  This  is  certainly  not  the 
case  with  man ;  and  sad  is  his  condition  when  his  conscious- 
ness does  not  tell  him  so.  Is  then  this  harmony  not  good, 
not  desirable  ?  On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  highest  good.  And 
as  with  consciousness  and  freedom,  so  with  this  harmony 
between  the  internal  of  the  mind,  and  the  external  of  the 
mind,  the  beginning  is  permitted  to  be  poor  and  most  defective, 
that  the  end  may  be  better  and  eternal. 

The  eternal  effort  of  Providence  is  to  induce  man  to  co- 


276  EOW  IT  IS  WITH  ANOELS. 

operate  with  God  in  making  the  vessel  ready  for  the  wine, 
and  so  to  permit  God  to  fill  it  with  new  wine.  To  this 
end  He  always  operates  upon  the  internal  of  man,  and  lifts  it 
somewhat  higher,  and  teaches  it  somewhat  more,  and  brings 
it  into  a  somewhat  better  state  than  the  external  can  at  once 
respond  to.  But  the  divine  purpose  is,  that  the  external 
should  respond  to  it ;  that  the  man  should  use  his  freedom  to 
compel  his  external  to  respond  to  it.  Here  may  be  difficulty 
and  conflict ;  and  there  may  be  the  distress  and  despair  of 
fierce  temptation.  But  if  the  external  is  moulded  into  con- 
formity with  the  new  internal ;  if  the  worldliness  and  self- 
seeking  and  self-trust  and  all  lusts  which  oppose  the  new 
truth,  give  way  before  it,  out  of  the  night  a  day  is  born  and 
out  of  the  conflict,  peace.  That  harmony  then  exists,  for  the 
sake  of  which  the  conflict  was  permitted.  The  vessel  and 
the  wine  "both  are  preserved." 

We  have  already  and  more  than  once  said  that  the  love  of 
God  is  not  satisfied  by  the  dead  or  mineral  kingdom ;  nor  by 
animals.  The  reason  is,  that  this  divine  love  is  infinite ;  and 
for  the  same  reason  it  cannot  be  satisfied  with  men,  until  the 
highest  degree  of  perfection  is  reached.  It  never  is  nor  can 
be  satisfied  in  one  sense ;  never,  so  that  its  whole  work  is 
done  and  nothing  more  is  desired.  But  it  may  be  satisfied  in 
another  sense ;  and  is  so,  when  the  progress  is  begun  in  a 
right  direction,  and  is  such  a  progress  that  it  may  continue 
and  for  ever  and  for  ever  advance  towards  perfection. 

We  may  easily  imagine  a  point  in  this  progress,  which  it 
may  be  well  to  reflect  upon ;  for  this  may  help  us  to  under- 
stand what  the  work  is,  and  how  it  is  done,  and  whither  it 
tends.  For  this  purpose  let  us  ask  ourselves  to  what  con- 
clusions the  principles  above  stated  would  lead,  if  we  sup- 
pose them  carried  out  to  a  practical  result ;  or,  what  arc 
the  angels  whose  life  is  conformed  to  them ;  how  it  is  witli 
their  freedom,  their  consciousness,  their  sense  of  personality, 
and  the  harmony  which  pervades  their  whole  being. 


ABSORPTION.  277 

In  the  first  place,  their  freedom  is  nearly  perfect.  They 
are  governed  only  by  their  own  love ;  there  is  so  little  in  that 
which  opposes  the  divine  love,  that  the  action  of  infinite  power 
in  and  upon  them  seems  only  to  be  infinite  help.  It  is  no 
more  felt  as  restraint  or  hindrance,  than  is  the  hand  of  the 
loving  mother  when  she  supports  and  guides  the  steps  of  her 
infant.  Nor  have  they  any  fear  that  their  freedom  will  be 
iliminished.  They  know,  and  in  the  very  centre  of  their 
hearts  they  feel,  that  their  freedom  is  guarded  with  infinite 
love ;  and  when  the  guidance  of  that  love  is  most  distinctly 
felt,  then  are  they  most  grateful  for  the  blessing. 

And  their  consciousness  of  free  and  voluntary  Kfe  and 
action  is  consummate.  They  have  all  the  certainty  of  con- 
sciousness, that  their  freedom  is  the  constant  gift  of  a  love 
which  cannot  fail  nor  err.  They  have  a  never-failing  and 
never-doubting  certainty  that  the  divine  life  is  in  them,  not 
merely  as  His  life,  but  that  it  has  come  down  and  entered 
into  them  to  become  and  always  to  continue  their  own 
life. 

The  most  ancient  eastern  philosophy  or  religion  (for  they 
were  one)  exists  in  its  fragmentary  remains,  only  as  it  was  in 
its  last  days,  or  when  it  had  reached  that  degree  of  perversion 
that  caused  the  divine  providence  to  bring  it  to  an  end  as  a 
living  and  influential  system.  In  these  remains  we  may  still 
find  traces  of  great  truths  ;  but  they  are  mingled  with  great 
fiilsities.  A  prevailing  doctrine  in  those  systems  appears  to 
be  that  of  absorption ;  or,  the  doctrine  that  the  highest  per- 
fection of  the  good  man  consists  in  that  absorption  into  deity, 
or  into  the  universal  All,  which  wholly  takes  from  him 
individual  life  and  consciousness.  This  subject  may  be  again 
considered ;  but  here  I  would  say  something  of  it. 

It  is  the  central  truth  of  all  religion,  that  all  life  comes 
from  God  and  re-ascends  towards  Him  by  growth  in  goodness. 
It  is  another  truth  that  as  all  life  is  from  Him  and  in  its 
origin  His,  all  evil  life  is  His  life  perverted  by  the  abuse  of 


278        ANGELIC  CONSCIOUSNESS   OF  LIFE. 

human  freedom,  and  all  falsity  His  truth,  so"  perverted.  And 
then  it  is  another  truth,  that  the  greatest  falses  are  always 
perversions  of  the  highest  truths.  And  it  may  be  said,  that  the 
human  mind,  in  its  worst  conceivable  condition,  is  incapable 
of  imagining  a  more  absolute  or  enormous  falsehood  than  this 
doctrine  of  absorption ;  for  this  is  the  absolute  perversion  of 
the  great  truth,  that  all  life  is  from  Him,  and  returns  to  Him 
by  being  received  and  lived  by  man,  without  perversion. 

And  how  foolish  it  is.  It  declares  that  a  God  of  love 
invests  us  with  the  personality  and  individual  consciousness 
upon  which  all  happiness  must  depend,  and  leaves  them  with 
us  a  few  years  afthis  poor  beginning  of  our  being,  and  then, 
during  all  eternity  takes  them  away ;  and  with  them  the 
happiness  which  must  rest  upon  them,  and  whatever  of  im- 
provement or  preparedness  for  more  has  grown  out  of  our  use 
of  personality  and  consciousness ;  and  takes  them  away, 
soonest  and  most  completely  from  those  persons  who  in 
obedience  to  the  directions  of  God  had  become  best  fitted  to 
enjoy  personal  happiness !  It  is  indeed  difficult  to  believe 
that  any  person  ever  really  believed  so  foolish  a  falsehood. 
But  if  there  are  no  limits  to  the  possible  ascent  of  the  human 
soul,  so  it  would  seem  that  there  are  none  to  its  possible 
descent.  And  it  cannot  be  denied  that  there  are  those  in  the 
Christian  community,  or  at  least  living  among  Christians,  at 
the  present  day,  —  and  not  a  very  few  of  them,  —  and  not 
persons  without  ability  and  influence,  who  hold,  and  more  or 
less  covertly  teach,  that  there  is  no  other  immortality  for 
men,  but  this  absorption  which  is  only  an  immortality  of 
desti'uction. 

But  the  angels,  whom  we  have  attempted  to  speak  of,  how 
far,  how  inexpressibly,  how  inconceivably  far,  are  they  from 
this  delusion.  Their  whole  life  is  one  intense  and  perpetual 
consciousness  of  life,  of  freedom,  and  of  personality. 

Nor  let  it  be  supposed  for  a  moment  that  this  consciousness 
of  i)er8onality  is  a  belief  in  an  illusion,  mercifully  permitted 


PROPRIUM.  279 

to  us  here,  and  mercifully  continued  and  strengthened  here- 
after. It  is  a  just  belief  of  a  most  absolute  fact ;  of  a  fact  as 
absolute  as  any  fact  can  be. 

I  have  known  a  man,  who,  if  you  told  him  that  he  had  a 
hand,  or  an  eye  in  his  head,  or  that  he  walked  the  streets, 
would  answer,  it  certainly  seems  so,  but  it  is  only  seeming. 
And  then,  if  you  let  him,  he  would  unwind  a  chain  of  logic 
(or  what  he  thought  logic),  to  prove  that  all  this  was  merely 
apparent  and  wholly  unreal.  I  know  too  that  such  things 
are  said  in  books.  But  I  have  never  been  able  to  suppose 
that  any  one  ever  believed  this ;  or  that  the  devils  of  doubt 
could  ever  so  completely  overcome  all  rectitude  of  understand- 
ing ;  or,  that  if  they  did  so,  there  could  be  any  escape  from 
insanity. 

As  to  the  logic  of  the  thing,  neither  this  nor  any  chain  of 
reasoning  can  bear  even  the  semblance  of  logic,  unless  it 
found  itself  upon  certain  axioms,  or  assumptions  of  intuition 
or  consciousness.  All  ratiocination  must  admit  these,  and  be- 
gin with  these,  before  it  can  take  a  single  step.  And  there  are 
no  assumptions  of  intuition  or  of  consciousness  so  strong  as 
those  which  every  man  has  of  his  own  personality.  And  again 
I  say,  the  reason  of  this  is,  that  there  is  no  more  absolute  and 
real  fact  than  that  of  every  man's  own  personality.  But  all 
logic  of  this  kind,  if  it  could  come  before  the  mind  of  angels, 
they  would  meet  and  crush  by  a  higher  and  a  truer  logic,  — 
by  a  logic  founding  itself  upon  the  personahty  of  God 
Himself. 

I  propose  to  consider  this  great  topic  again,  in  connection 
with  the  subject  of  Proprium ;  a  word  which  can  have  no 
meaning  to  those  who  have  not  yet  learned  what  is  under- 
stood by  it  in  the  New  Church ;  and  which  I  shall  endeavor 
presently  to  explain.  Here  I  will  only  say,  that  they  who  cast 
from  their  minds  all  belief  in  the  self-conscious  personality 
of  God,  cast  from  their  minds  all  belief  in  God.  It  may  be 
difficult  for  us,  while  in  this  world,  distinctly  to  impersonate 


280  HARMONY. 

the  Infinite;  and  in  another  place  I  may  have  something 
more  to  say  of  this  difficulty  and  the  cause  of  it,  and  the 
remedy  for  it.  The  angels  find  this  difficulty  vanish  with 
the  controlling  influence  of  space  and  time.  They  know,  as 
the  centre  of  all  knowledge,  that  He  is  an  infinite,  and  yet  a 
self-conscious  person.  And  they  know,  as  a  fact  upon  which 
all  other  facts  rest,  that  they  also  possess  self-consciousness 
and  personality,  derived  from  Him  and  from  His. 

There  is  yet  one  other  topic,  which  I  have  already  con- 
sidered, and  must  now  speak  of  in  reference  to  the  angels ; 
the  harmony  between  their  internal  and  their  external ;  the 
correspondence  between  the  divine  life  which  enters  into 
the  inmost  of  their  natures,  and  their  afiections,  thoughts, 
wishes,  acts  and  lives ;  the  perfect  fitness  of  the  vessels  for 
the  wine  which  they  contain.  But  the  very  greatness  of  the 
topic  prevents  my  attempting  to  say  much  of  it ;  large  must 
be  the  volume  which  would  give  even  the  outlines  of  it ; 
which  would  even  define  the  internal  and  external  and  exhibit 
fully  their  relation  to  each  other ;  which  would  show  what  is 
God's  work  and  what  is  man's  work,  and  how  man's  work  is 
God's  work  in  him,  and  yet  is  most  truly,  most  really,  man's 
own  work. 

Passing  all  this  by,  at  least  for  the  present,  let  me  ask  a 
reader  to  remember  how  an  animal  goes  through  his  life. 
Born  into  all  his  instincts,  he  possesses  by  the  mere  fact  of 
his  nature,  just  the  knowledges  and  just  the  volitions  which 
he  needs,  and  leads  a  life  which  is  the  constant  exercise  of 
those  volitions  as  they  act  spontaneously  through  those 
knowledges. 

And  now  let  him  imagine  a  man,  —  an  angel,  —  all  whose 
affections  are  those  of  good  and  of  heaven  and  exactly  suited 
to  the  uses  which  he  loves  and  performs,  and  all  whose 
knowledges  are  suited  to  bring  those  affections  into  the  fullest 
exercise  and  enjoyment,  and  whose  outward  life  is  but  a 
spontaneous  indulgence  of  all  his  affections,  by  the  means  of 


ONE  SHEEP  LOST,  281 

all  his  knowledges,  and  is  yet  the  life  of  the  exact  determinate 
employment  which  he  most  loves  and  most  enjoys.  Doubt, 
obscurity,  conflict  have  passed  away ;  they  have  gone,  and 
in  their  stead  peace  has  come ;  peace,  which  is  not  rest  or 
inactivity,  but  the  peace  of  full,  joyous  and  unimpeded  life. 
Peace  founded  upon  the  certainty  that  his  life  is  his  own ;  a 
certainty  which  nothing  can  disturb,  because  it  rests  upon  the 
certainty  that  it  is  God's  life  in  him,  given  to  him  by  God 
Himself,  to  be  his  own. 

But  it  is  not  easy  even  to  imagine  all  this ;  for  this  is  that 
Peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  our  understanding. 


OF  THE  MAN  WHO  HAVING  AN  HUNDRED  SHEEP  LOST  ONE; 
AND  THE  WOMAN  WHO  HAVING  TEN  PIECES  OF  SILVER 
LOST   ONE. 

12  How  think  ye  ?  If  a  man  have  an  hundred  sheep,  and  one  of 
them  be  gone  astray,  doth  he  not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine,  and  goeth 
into  the  mountains,  and  seeketh  that  which  is  gone  astray,? 

13  And  if  so  be  that  he  find  it,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  he  rejoiceth 
more  of  that  sheep,  than  of  the  ninety  and  nine  which  went  not 
astray.  —  Matt,  xviii.  12,  13. 

8  Either  what  woman,  having  ten  pieces  of  silver,  if  she  lose  one 
piece,  doth  not  light  a  candle,  and  sweep  the  house,  and  seek  diligently 
till  she  find  it  ? 

9  And  when  she  hath  found  it,  she  calleth  her  friends  and  her  neigh- 
bors together,  saying,  Rejoice  with  me ;  for  I  have  found  the  piece 
which  I  had  lost. 

10  Likewise,  I  say  unto  you,  There  is  joy  in  the  presence  of  the 
angels  of  God  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth.  — Luke  xv.  8-10. 

The  parables  of  our  Lord  were  spoken  to  His  disciples  for 
their  instruction  and  are  recorded  for  the  instruction  of  all 
who  read  them.  This  is  obvious  and  none  deny  or  doubt 
it.  But  it  should  be  an  easy  inference,  and  be  as  universally 
admitted,  that  the  instruction  thus  conveyed  must  relate  to 
the  will  of  God  in  relation  to  man,  and  to  His  divine  prov- 
idence over  man.     Let  us  then  endeavor  to  ascertain  the 


282     MAN  IS  JUDGED  BY  HIS  OPPORTUNITIES. 

leading  principles  of  this  providence,  to  which  these  parables 
may  seem  to  refer. 

These  principles,  beginning  with  that  which  must  be  the 
centre  of  all,  would  seem  to  be  these. 

God  desires  the  happiness  of  all ;  not  of  some  but  of  all ; 
and  He  desires  that  all  should  obey  Him  and  should  love 
Him  that  they  may  be  happy. 

He  desires  this  always,  and  for  ever.  We  have  already 
seen  how  this  desire  operates  after  death  even  upon  those 
who  do  not  desire  the  good  and  the  hajipiness  He  would  give 
them.  Here,  we  refer  only  to  this  life ;  and  say  that  this 
desire  that  man  should  be  happy  continues  to  the  end  of 
every  man's  life  without  cessation  or  diminution ;  and  that 
His  endeavor  to  accomplish  His  desire  and  man's  happiness 
continues  also. 

But,  as  has  been  repeatedly  said,  it  is  a  necessary  condition 
of  the  effecting  this  divine  purpose,  that  man  should  co-operate 
with  God,  and  do  this  in  freedom.  He  therefore  compels  no 
man  to  be  good ;  and  has  no  desire  that  a  man  should  make 
an  apparent  beginning  of  goodness,  if  it  be  apparent  only,  and 
if  it  will  yield  and  pass  away  when  brought  to  the  test  of 
reality,  and  so  leave  the  man  worse  than  he  was  before. 

But  while  He,  in  fact,  compels  none,  His  acts  and  influences 
of  assistance  and  guidance  may  put  on  the  aspect  of  compul- 
sion ;  may  seem  this,  while  the  evils  which  He  would  remove, 
continue  to  oppose  him. 

And  while  He  is  always  near  to  them  who  would  be  near 
to  Him,  he  may  seem  to  be  afar  off;  He  may  withhold  all 
consciousness  of  his  assistance ;  He  may  thus  wait  until  re- 
pentance becomes  almost  despair  ;  He  may  thus  stimulate  to 
urgent  and  constant  and  agonizing  solicitation,  where  He 
sees  it  to  be  well,  thus  to  develop  into  greater  clearness,  and 
thus  to  strengthen  into  profounder  and  more  abiding  force,  a 
longing  for  salvation  fi'om  sin. 

And  when  the  final  doom  falls  on  man,  he  is  judged  by  his 


THE  DENIAL   OF  SELF.  283 

opportunities,  and  the  measure  of  his  ability.  Hence,  imper- 
fect knowledge,  encumbered  by  inherited  evils,  may  yet  be 
brought  into  exercise,  and  the  germs  of  goodness  cultivated, 
until  they  bear  the  fruits  of  peace. 

And  every  man  is  permitted  and  encouraged  and  assisted 
to  use  all  the  means  provided ;  not  only  the  Word  which  God 
has  given  him,  but  all  the  events  and  circumstances  of  life ; 
and  all  these  are  so  governed  and  provided,  that  they  may  be 
used  as  means  to  this  end. 

But  one  thing  is  always  necessary ;  it  is  that  the  love  of 
good  should  give  life  and  efficacy  to  the  knowledge  of  truth ; 
for  without  a  love  of  the  good  which  the  truth  teaches, 
the  truth  is  dead,  and  worthless,  or  worse. 

And  then  we  reach  the  last,  the  essential,  the  universal, 
condition  of  all  salvation  from  sin.  It  is,  that  the  man  shall 
become  willing  to  deny  himself;  to  deny  his  worship  of  self, 
his  trust  in  self,  and  his  love  of  self ;  to  worship  God ;  to 
trust  in  God  ;  and  to  love  God.  For  these  are  the  universal 
laws  of  life ;  of  all  true  life ;  and  therefore  of  the  life  of  all 
who  are  in  heaven. 

"We  have  thus  endeavored  to  give  what  we  may  call,  if 
indeed  we  may  venture  to  use  such  a  phrase,  the  system 
of  divine  providence.  How  the  parables  already  considered 
bear  upon  the  principles  of  this  system^  the  reader  may 
judge.  Now,  let  us  endeavor  to  look  at  other  parables  in 
this  connection. 

The  first  principle  stated  was,  that  God  desires  the  good 
and  happiness  of  aU  men.  And  consider  the  parable  of  the 
woman  who  having  ten  pieces  of  silver  lost  one  ;  see  her 
seek  diligently,  until  she  finds  it ;  and  then  her  joy  over  her 
lost  and  found  treasure.  And  look  too  at  him  who  having 
an  hundred  sheep,  loseth  one ;  and  see  his  anxious  and 
earnest  search  for  his  lost  sheep ;  and  his  rejoicing  when 
he  has  found  it.  "I  say  unto  you,  that  likewise  joy  shall 
be  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth,  more  than  over 


284  JOY  OVER  A  REPENTANT  SINNER. 

ninety  and  nine  just  persons  who  need  no  repentance."  The 
man  called  together  his  Mends  and  neighbors  and  rejoiceth 
with  them.  God  calleth  together  his  angels,  and  rejoiceth 
with  them,  and  they  rejoice  the  more  because  they  know  that 
their  joy  is  His  joy,  given  to  them  to  be  their  joy. 

He  does  not  call  them  together  especially  for  this  purpose. 
His  love  and  His  wisdom  have  so  called  them  together  and 
so  arranged  them,  that  they  form  one  harmonious  whole 
which  exists  for  this  purpose.  The  whole  life  of  heaven  goes 
forth  to  assist  every  sinner  to  escape  from  his  sins ;  and  if 
he  ceases  to  do  evil  and  learns  to  do  well,  he  also  becomes  an 
angel ;  he  also  takes  his  appointed  place  and  his  share  in  the 
work  of  heaven;  and  he  thus  adds  to  the  joy,  and  to  the 
strength  of  the  whole  heaven.* 

But  it  is  also  said,  that  there  is  more  joy  over  "  one  sinner 
that  repenteth,  than  over  ninety  and  nine  just  persons  who 
need  no  repentance."  By  the  "just"  here  are  meant  those 
who  think  and  call  themselves  just ;  and  who  therefore 
believe  that  they  have  no  need  of  repentance.  But  they  who 
are  truly  just,  know  their  own  need  of  repentance  ;  know 
that  this  need  is  universal  and  constant,  and  that  where  there 
is  no  sense  of  sin  and  of  repentance,  the  sense  of  self-justifi- 
cation is  a  thing  to  be  most  deeply  repented  of.  And  over 
such  just  persons  as  these,  there  can  be  no  joy  in  heaven 
until  repentance  comes. 

*  There  is  a  mistranslation  in  the  received  version  of  Matt,  xviii.  13, 
■which  should  be  noticed.  Instead  of  "  Doth  he  not  leave  the  ninety  and 
nine,  and  goeth  into  the  mountains,  to  seek  that  which  is  gone  astray?" 
il  should  be  "  Doth  he  not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine  upon  the  mountains, 
and  goeth  to  seek  that  which  is  gone  astray?"  They  who  have  not  gone 
astray,  have  alreadj-  been  led  by  Him  to  the  mountains  and  there  they 
abide.  But  if  one  even  of  them  leaves  Him,  leaves  the  mountains,  and 
goeth  down  into  dark  valleys,  even  there  He  goeth  to  seek  and  to  find 
him.  . 


THE  LABORERS  IN  TEE   VINEYARD.         285 


OF    THE    LABORERS    IN    THE    VINEYARD. 

1  For  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is  an  house- 
holder, which  went  out  early  in  the  morning  to  hire  laborers  into  his 
vineyard. 

2  And  when  he  had  agreed  with  the  laborers  for  a  penny  a  day,  he 
sent  them  into  his  vineyard. 

3  And  he  went  out  about  the  third  hour,  and  saw  others  standing 
idle  in  the  market-place, 

4  And  said  unto  them,  Go  ye  also  into  the  vineyard ;  and  whatso- 
ever is  right,  I  will  give  you.    And  they  went  their  way. 

5  Again  he  went  out  about  the  sixth  and  ninth  hour,  and  did  like- 
wise. 

6  And  about  the  eleventh  hour  he  went  out,  and  found  others  stand- 
ing idle,  and  saith  unto  them,  Why  stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle  ? 

7  They  say  unto  him,  Because  no  man  hath  hired  us.  He  saith 
unto  them,  Go  ye  also  into  the  vineyard ;  and  whatsoever  is  right,  thai 
shall  ye  receive. 

8  So  when  even  was  come,  the  lord  of  the  vineyard  saith  unto  his 
steward.  Call  the  laborers,  and  give  them  their  hire,  beginning  from 
the  last  unto  the  first. 

9  And  when  they  came  that  were  hired  about  the  eleventh  hour, 
they  received  every  man  a  penny. 

10  But  when  the  first  came,  they  supposed  that  they  should  have 
received  more ;  and  they  Ukewise  received  every  man  a  penny 

11  And  when  they  had  received  it,  they  murmured  against  the  good 
man  of  the  house. 

12  Saying,  These  last  have  wrought  but  one  hour,  and  thou  hast 
made  them  equal  unto  us,  which  have  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of 
the  day. 

13  But  he  answered  one  of  them,  and  said,  Friend,  I  do  thee  no 
wrong :  didst  not  thou  agree  with  me  for  a  penny  1 

14  Take  that  thine  is,  and  go  thy  way :  I  will  give  unto  this  last  even 
as  unto  thee. 

15  Is  it  not  lawful  for  me  to  do  what  I  will  with  mine  own  ?  is  thine 
eye  evil,  because  I  am  good  ? 

16  So  the  last  shall  be  first,  and  the  first  last :  for  many  be  called, 
but  few  chosen.  —  Matt.  xx.  1-16. 

The  divine  desire  for  the  good  and  for  the  happiness  of  all 
men  continues  to  the  very  end  of  life.  And  this  is  true,  as 
we  have  seen  in  what  has  been  said  of  heaven  and  hell,  even 


286  WHAT  HE  DOES   WITH  HIS   OWN. 

if  we  remember  that  life  never  ends,  and  tlierefore  this  mercy 
cannot. 

Some  of  the  laborers  in  his  vineyard  were  hired  in  the 
morning;  some  at  the  third  hour;  some  at  the  sixth  and 
ninth ;  and  some  only  at  the  eleventh  hour.  All  day  long 
these  last  had  stood  idle.  All  day  long  he  has  permitted 
them  to  loiter  outside  of  his  vineyard  and  outside  of  his 
work.  But  all  day  long,  his  perfect  wisdom  has  been  so 
leading  them,  that  they  have  become  ready,  at  last.  They 
did  not  feel  his  hand ;  they  did  not  know  his  mercy ;  the 
treasure  he  was  watching  lay  hid  in  the  fields,  the  leaven  in 
the  heap ;  but  the  hour  came  ;  they  could  see  him  approach  ; 
they  could  listen  to  his  call ;  they  could  enter  into  his  vine- 
yard and  do  his  work.  Then,  "  Shall  he  do  not  what  he  will 
with  his  own"?  What  can  he  will,  except  to  give,  with 
overflowing  measure,  all  that  can  be  received  ?  What  can  he 
will,  except  to  give  "  to  his  own  "  children,  his  own  love,  his 
own  wisdom,  his  own  happiness,  with  no  other  limitation  but 
that  imposed  by  the  willingness  and  therefore  the  ability  of 
the  man  to  receive  so  much  of  the  blessing  and  no  more. 

While  nothing  in  the  word  of  God,  and  no  truth  ever  pre- 
sented to  the  mind  of  man,  justifies  or  counsels  delay,  or 
makes  it  other  than  dangerous  and  very  dangerous,  yet  the 
mercy  of  God  would  not  be  what  it  is,  if  the  door  were  not 
kept  open  to  the  last  hour ;  open,  always,  to  him  who  is  at 
last  willing  to  enter  therein ;  open  always,  but  entered,  at 
the  first  hour  or  the  last,  only  by  him  who,  in  the  sincerity  of 
an  honest  heart,  turns  from  the  error  of  his  ways  and  desires 
to  obey  the  will  of  God.  "  A  man  had  two  sons ;  he  came 
to  the  first  and  said.  Son,  go  work  to-day  in  my  vineyard. 
He  answered  I  will  not,  but  afterward  he  repented  and  went. 
And  he  came  to  the  second,  and  said  likewise.  And  he  an- 
swered and  said,  I  go,  sir  ;  and  went  not.  Whether  of  them 
twain  did  the  will  of  his  father  ?  They  say  unto  him,  The 
first.     Jesus  saith  unto  them,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that 


HE  COMPELS  NONE.  287 

the  publicans  and  the  harlots  shall  go  into  the  kingdom  of. 
God  before  you."  And  when  the  next  verse  is  read,  in  which 
tlie  reason  for  this  is  given,  "  For  John  came  unto  you  in  the 
way  of  righteousness,  and  ye  believed  not ;  but  the  publicans 
and  the  harlots  beheved  him,"  let  it  be  remembered  that  John 
represents,  means,  and  stands  for  the  repentance  which  he 
preached. 

It  is  for  man  to  choose,  whether  he  will  indulge  his  natural 
proclivities  to  evil,  or  make  war  upon  them ;  and  it  is  better 
that  he  should  not  enter  upon  this  warfare,  and  do  the  work 
in  such  wise  that  it  is  not  really  done ;  and  drive  the  devils 
away  for  a  season,  only  that  they  should  return  sevenfold  in 
number  and  in  force.  Better  is  it,  that  he  should  not  be 
as  one  who  begins  to  build  and  counteth  not  the  cost,  and  is 
not  able  to  finish  it ;  or  as  him  who  is  not  able  to  meet  with 
ten  thousand  him  who  cometh  against  him  with  twenty  thou- 
sand. 

It  has  been  said,  that  while  He  in  fact  compels  none,  his 
assistance  may  seem  to  be  compulsion.  As,  at  the  marriage 
supper,  when  they  who  were  bidden  would  not  come,  —  the 
poor,  the  maimed,  the  halt  and  the  blind  were  summoned ; 
and  because  there  was  still  room,  the  servants  of  the  Lord 
went  out  into  the  highways,  and  comj^elled  them  to  come  in. 
They  who  were  bidden,  are  those  to  whom  all  opportunities 
of  instruction  are  given,  who  know  all  the  words  of  invita- 
tion, and  will  not  listen.  But  the  poor,  the  maimed,  the  lame 
and  the  blind,  are  those  who  know  that  they  are  so,  and 
deplore  it;  who  feel  a  deep  consciousness  how  poor  they 
are  in  all  that  constitutes  the  wealth  of  the  soul,  how  maimed 
is  their  life,  how  lamely  they  walk  in  the  paths  of  goodness, 
how  blind  they  are  to  the  light  of  truth.  They  expect  no  in- 
vitation to  the  supper  of  the  Lamb ;  but  when  it  reaches 
them,  gladly  do  they  accept  it.  But  there  is  yet  room,  for 
infinite  mercy  cannot  be  exhausted.  And  there  are  many 
who  wander  in  the  highways  of  common  life,  conscious  of  no 


288  HE  IS  ALWAYS  NEAR. 

desire  to  tread  the  path  to  heaven,  but  who  are,  in  God's  own 
way  and  time,  drawn  into  that  path,  by  means  and  motives 
which  act  upon  them  with  seeming  violence ;  nor,  when  they 
reach  this  better  state  of  mind  and  remember  their  own  for- 
getfulness  of  God  or  their  opposition  to  Him,  can  they  feel 
otherwise  than  as  if  they  had  been  plucked  from  the  burning 
with  a  strong  hand,  and  compelled  to  change  their  course  and 
their  life,  by  a  kind,  but  an  irresistible  force.  They  cannot 
yet  see,  that  this  force  was  only  perfect  love,  operating  with 
perfect  wisdom  on  their  love,  and  leading  to  a  change  of  their 
affections  and  their  life,  by  their  own  voluntary  self-compul- 
sion. 

"While  He  is  always  near.  He  may  seem  to  be  far  off.  He 
may  indeed  wait,  not  only  until  the  last  hour,  but  He  may  wait, 
or  seem  to  wait,  even  if  the  cry  for  help  be  like  that  of  the 
importunate  widow,  "  who  cometh  continually,"  ever  praying 
that  He  "  would  avenge  her  of  her  adversary."  But  He  has 
not  waited ;  He  is  not  an  unjust  judge  ;  it  was  He  inspired  that 
prayer  for  help ;  it  is  His  love  which  desires  that  this  prayer 
may  be  constant,  urgent,  and  perpetual.  And  He  utters  this 
parable,  couching  it  in  forms  so  external  that  they  may  reach 
the  lowest  and  most  external  mind,  to  the  end,  —  as  is  ex- 
pressly declared,  —  that  it  may  teach  them,  that  "  men  ought 
always  to  pray,  and  not  to  faint.  Never  faint ;  never  despair." 
"  Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  white  as  snow," 
if  the  stains  be  cleansed  away  by  the  tears  of  repentance. 

What  human  mind  has  yet  measured,  what  human  heart 
yet  fathomed,  the  infinite  tenderness  of  the  parable  of  the 
prodigal  son  ?  What  words  can  make  more  clear  that  infinite 
mercy  which,  on  the  first  return  of  the  son  who  has  done  all 
that  man  can  do  to  make  himself  unworthy  and  unwelcome, 
—  goes  forth  to  meet  him,  gladly,  rejoicingly,  and  runs  to 
him,  and  falls  upon  his  neck,  and  kisses  him  ?  With  what 
eager  welcome  was  this  "  son  who  was  dead  and  is  alive 
again"  folded  in  the  arms  of  perfect  love ! 


WHAT  DEFILETH  THE  MAN.  289 


THAT    WHAT    ENTERETH   THE   MAN   DOES    NOT   DEFILE. 

14  And  when  he  had  called  all  the  people  unto  him,  he  said  unto 
them,  Hearken  unto  me  every  one  of  you,  and  understand. 

15  There  is  nothing  from  without  a  man,  that  entering  into  him, 
can  defile  him  :  but  the  things  which  come  out  of  him,  those  are  they 
that  defile  the  man. 

16  If  any  man  have  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear. 

17  And  when  he  was  entered  into  the  house  from  the  people,  his 
disciples  asked  him  concerning  the  parable. 

18  And  he  saith  unto  them.  Are  ye  so  without  understanding  also? 
Do  ye  not  perceive,  that  whatsoever  thing  from  without  entereth  into 
the  man,  it  cannot  defile  him  . 

19  Because  it  entereth  not  into  his  heart,  but  into  the  belly,  and 
goeth  out  into  the  draught,  purging  all  meats  ? 

20  And  he  said.  That  which  cometh  out  of  the  man,  that  defileth 
the  man. 

21  For  from  within,  out  of  the  heart  of  men,  proceed  evil  thoughts, 
adulteries,  fornications,  murders, 

22  Thefts,  covetousness,  wickedness,  deceit,  lasciviousness,  an  evil 
eye,  blasphemy,  pride,  foolishness  : 

23  All  these  evil  things  come  from  within,  and  defile  the  man.  — 
Mark  vii.  14-23. 

10  And  he  called  the  multitude,  and  said  unto  them.  Hear  and 
understand. 

11  Not  that  which  goeth  into  the  mouth  defileth  a  man ;  but  that 
which  cometh  out  of  the  mouth,  this  defileth  a  man.  —  Matt.  xv. 
10,  11. 

While  the  Word  of  God  is  full  of  instruction  and  rebuke 
for  the  proud  and  prestimptuous,  it  is  as  full  of  consolation 
and  promise  for  the  humble,  and  for  those  who  are  suffering 
from  the  deep  sense  of  their  unworthiness.  And  much 
instruction  is  given  to  protect  men  from  those  undue  anxi- 
eties which  the  Enemy  —  the  accuser  of  the  brethren  —  seeks 
to  infuse  into  the  minds  of  those  whom  he  cannot  otherwise 
make  unhappy.  Probably  no  one  who  desires  to  be  good  is 
free  from  sorrow  at  the  evil  thoughts  and  fantasies  and  lusts 
which  rush  unbidden  into  his  mind,  and  make  him  fear  that 
tbey  indicate  ruling  principles  in  his  characters.    For  such 

19 


290  ALL  ANCESTRAL  EVILS  IN  MAN. 

persons  was  spoken  the  parable  which  tells  us  that  it  is  not 
what  entereth  into  a  man  that  defileth  him,  but  what  gcetn 
out.  Our  Lord  himself  so  far  explained  this  parable  as  to 
lift  it  above  the  merely  sensuous  meaning.  He  permits  us 
now  to  know  a  higher  meaning.  To  know  that  evil  thoughts 
and  fantasies  and  lusts  could  not  indeed  be  awakened  within 
us,  if  they  were  not  already  within  us,  ready  to  awake.  That 
they  may  therefore  help  us  to  know  in  what  sense  we  of 
ourselves  are  all  evil,  and  only  evil ;  but  that  no  man  suffers 
permanently  for  any  evil  which  he  does  not  make  his  own  by 
choice  and  voluntary  indulgence. 

All  the  evils  of  his  whole  long  line  of  ancestry  are  in 
every  man ;  they  are  in  him  as  tendencies  to  evil ;  as  a  whole 
they  constitute  the  character  in  its  germ  and  tendency ;  and 
this  character  remains  for  ever  uneffaced  and  un destroyed,  how- 
ever it  be  hidden  and  unknown.  But  every  man's  conscious 
self  is  finally  formed  of  only  those  thoughts  and  affections 
which  have  been  made  personally  and  individually  his  own, 
by  his  own  voluntary  adoption,  indulgence,  and  confirmation. 
Evils  not  thus  adopted  and  confirmed,  do  not  become  sins ; 
they  do  not  defile  the  man ;  they  are  suppressed  and  hidden 
by  the  mercy  of  God,  excepting  so  far  as  they  may-  some- 
times come  forth  into  one's  own  knowledge  in  the  heavens  as 
they  do  on  earth.  There,  to  freshen  the  angel's  recognition 
of  himself,  and  of  the  divine  mercy  which  has  saved  him 
from  himself.  Here,  to  tell  us  what  we  might  be  if  God 
were  not  on  our  side,  and  what  we  shall  be  if  we  do  not  co- 
operate with  His  influence  and  become  better.  But  with  this 
lesson  this  parable  gives  us  also  the  assurance  that  His  help 
is  near  and  ready,  and  that  by  it  we  may  resist  and  put  away 
these  evils ;  that  they  have  not  yet  defiled  us,  and  that  we 
may  escape  their  defilement. 

And  the  parable  tells  us  yet  something  more.  It  tells  us 
that  what  thus  entereth  in,  if  it  be  not  assimilated  and  made 
a  part  of  the  man,  passes  out  and  then  "  purgeth  all  meats  " 


TEE  LOVE   OF  GOB   CANNOT  CEASE.         291 

It  is  for  this  very  purpose  that  they  are  permitted  to  enter  in. 
The  devils  are  permitted  to  excite  these  thoughts  and  lusts, 
that  we  may  resist  and  overcome  them,  with  the  full  knowl- 
edge of  what  we  are  liable  to ;  and  by  thus  putting  these 
evils  away  cleanse  our  whole  life.  Man  is  judged  by  his 
opportunities  and  the  measure  of  his  ability.  The  parables 
of  the  ten  pounds,  and  the  five  talents,  exhibit  this  so  clearly 
that  nothing  need  be  added.  All  is  summed  up  in  the  declara- 
tion, that  "  the  servant  which  knew  his  lord's  will  and  pre- 
pared not  himself,  neither  did  according  to  his  will  shall  be 
beaten  with  many  stripes.  But  he  that  knew  not,  and  did 
commit  things  worthy  of  stripes,  shall  be  beaten  with  few." 
One  remark  however  should  be  made.  It  is,  that  this  re- 
peated statement  of  the  justice  of  God  in  comparing  all  that 
a  man  has  done  with  all  that  he  could  do,  offers  the  strongest 
rebuke  to  the  falsity  which  would  persuade  us  that  an  arbi- 
trary foredooming  has  fixed  for  all  their  final  fate,  long  be- 
fore they  existed.  And  thankful  may  we  be,  that  while  this 
falsity  lingers  in  the  creeds  and  on  the  lips  of  men,  it  has  lost 
much  of  its  power  upon  the  hearts.  It  is  the  desire  of  God, 
it  is  the  will  of  God,  that  all  men  should  become  good.  It  is 
impossible  that  any  man  should  be  good,  but  with  his  own 
consent  and  co-operation ;  and  here  therefore  is  the  limit  to 
Omnipotence.  But  never  does  the  love  of  God  cease  to 
desire  that  every  man  should  become  good,  or  better  than  he 
is,  and  never  does  it  cease  to  act  for  that  purpose.  Every  man 
that  lives  is  as  a  fig-tree  planted  by  the  Lord  to  bear  fruit. 
And  even  when  it  refuses  to  bear  fruit,  the  divine  patience 
waits,  and  "  digs  about  it  and  manures  it,  and  if  it  bear  fruit, 
well ;  if  not,"  —  when  all  is  done  that  can  be  done  and  all  is 
done  in  vain,  —  it  must  be  cast  out  of  the  vineyard. 

Imperfect  knowledge  may  be  brought  into  exercise,  and 
the  germs  of  goodness  cultivated,  until  they  become  fruitful. 

This,  which  is  a  general  truth,  is  particularly  applicable  to 
tho  various  churches  or  dispensations  of  religious  truth  which 


292  THE  GOOD  SAMARITAN. 

have  existed  upon  earth.  In  all  of  them,  their  members  are 
judged  by  the  instruction  they  have  received.  If  they  have 
made  a  good  use  of  this  instruction,  it  is  well ;  and  otherwise 
it  is  not  well.  Hence  the  desire  and  effort  to  spread  the 
knowledge  of  Christianity  among  the  heathen  should  be 
founded  not  on  the  belief  that  they  who  knew  not  Christ  can- 
not be  saved  ;  but  that  it  is  a  good  thing,  so  good  as  to  de- 
serve our  best  endeavors,  to  give  to  the  heathen  truth  and 
faith  which  may  have  more  power  to  save  them  and  lift  them 
into  a  higher  condition  of  thought,  affection  and  life,  than 
any  thing  which  any  form  of  heathenism  can  impart. 


OF   THE   GOOD    SAMARITAN. 

29  But  he,  willing  to  justify  himself,  said  unto  Jesus,  And  who  is 
my  neighbor  1 

30  And  Jesus  answering,  said,  A  certain  man  went  down  from 
Jerusalem  to  Jericho,  and  fell  among  thieves,  which  stripped  him  of 
his  raiment,  and  wounded  him,  and  departed,  leaving  him  half  dead. 

31  And  by  chance  there  came  down  a  certain  priest  that  way ;  and 
when  he  saw  him,  he  passed  by  on  the  other  side. 

82  And  likewise  a  Levite,  when  he  was  at  the  place,  came  and 
looked  on  him,  and  passed  by  on  the  other  side. 

33  But  a  certain  Samaritan,  as  he  journeyed,  came  where  he  was : 
and  when  he  saw  him,  he  had  compassion  on  htm, 

34  And  went  to  him,  and  bound  up  his  wounds,  pouring  in  oil  and 
wine,  and  set  him  on  his  own  beast,  and  brought  him  to  an  inn,  and 
took  care  of  him. 

35  And  on  the  morrow,  when  he  departed,  he  took  out  two  pence, 
and  gave  them  to  the  host,  and  said  unto  him.  Take  care  of  him  :  and 
whatsoever  thou  spendest  more,  when  I  come  again,  I  will  repay  thee. 

36  Which  now  of  these  three,  thinkest  thou,  was  neighbor  unto 
him  that  fell  among  the  thieves  ? 

37  And  he  said.  He  that  shewed  mercy  on  him.  Then  said  Jesus 
unto  him,  Go,  and  do  thou  likewise.  — Luke  x.  29-37. 

Our  Lord,  after  stating  the  two  great  commandments,  re- 
plies to  the  question,  "  Who  is  our  neighbor  ?  "  He  is  most 
our  neighbor  who  is  most  filled  with  neighborly  love ;  with 


JERUSALEM  AND  JERICHO.  293 

that  love  which  is  the  universal  form  of  the  love  to  God,  and 
is  universally  taught  in  every  church  which  has  the  power  of 
salvation.  A  priest  of  the  Jewish  church,  authoritatively 
and  directly  established  by  God,  should  have  been,  more  than 
any  other,  filled  with  this  love ;  should  have  been  this  neigh- 
bor. But  he  was  false  to  the  teaching  of  his  church  and 
therefore  he  was  not  this  neighbor,  but  passed  by  on  the 
other  side.  So  also  of  the  Levite.  But  the  Samaritan, 
with  less  than  their  advantages,  had  more  than  their  good- 
ness. The  love  of  the  neighbor  which  his  church  inculcated, 
he  had  received  ;  and  therefore  he  showed  this  love  now,  by 
acting  as  this  neighbor  towards  the  poor  sufferer,  who  needed 
his  help. 

Such  is  the  general  meaning  and  instruction  of  this  para- 
ble. Like  every  other  parable,  and  all  the  words  our  Lord 
spake,  it  may  be  understood  not  only  in  yet  higher  senses, 
but  its  meaning  may  be  made  more  specific  by  a  brief  con- 
sideration of  some  of  the  details  of  the  parable.  Possibly, 
it  may  be  foimd  to  have  a  peculiar  bearing  on  our  own  times, 
and  our  own  duties. 

Jerusalem  was  the  centre  and  heart  of  the  Holy  Land. 
Jericho  was  a  city  near  to  Jordan ;  it  was  the  first  city  found 
by  those  who,  coming  to  the  Holy  Land  from  the  eastward, 
crossed  the  Jordan.  The  river  Jordan  was  the  boundary  of 
the  Holy  Land  in  the  strictest  application  of  that  name.  As 
all  water,  by  a  universal  correspondence  denotes  truth,  or 
things  of  the  understanding,  the  river  Jordan  denotes  the 
bounding,  or  elementary,  or  introductory  truths  of  a  church, 
or  of  religion.  It  was  with  this  meaning,  that  Naaman  the 
Syrian  was  commanded  by  the  prophet  Elisha,  if  he  wished 
to  be  clean  of  his  leprosy  to  wash  seven  times  in  Jordan. 
And  while  Naaman  believed  that  "Abana  and  Pharpar, 
rivers  of  Damascus,  were  better  than  all  the  waters  of  Is- 
rael" he  turned,  and  went  away  in  wrath,  and  remained 
unclean.     But  when  he  yielded,  and  "  went  down  "  from  his 


294  JERUSALEM  TO  JEBICHO. 

false  and  foolish  pride  and  self-exaltation,  and  dipped  seven 
times  in  Jordan,  "  his  flesh  came  unto  him  like  unto  the  jiesh 
of  a  little  child,  and  he  was  clean."  "  Whosoever  shall  not 
receive  the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  little  child  shall  not  enter 
therein." 

A  city  denotes  doctrine.  A  city  is  a  place  which  men  have 
built  or  taken  possession  of,  in  which  they  may  live  together 
as  in  their  homes.  Spiritually,  it  is  a  doctrine  which  men 
have  formed  or  have  received,  in  which  they  may  live  together 
in  agreement  and  all  feel  as  in  their  homes.  This  is  the 
signification  of  city  throughout  the  Scripture ;  thus  the  city 
of  the  New  Jerusalem  in  the  Apocalypse  denotes  the  doc- 
trine, in  its  complex,  now  descending  from  heaven,  to  form 
a  new  church ;  and  in  the  spiritual  world  cities  are  so  formed 
and  so  inhabited.  But  Jericho,  the  first  city  found  by  those 
who  cross  the  Jordan  from  the  sunrising,  means  the  doc- 
trine formed  of  introductory  truths.  Jericho,  when  in  the 
hands  of  the  heathen,  meant  the  exact  opposite,  or  the  doc- 
trine of  falsehood.  And  the  way  in  which  its  walls  fell 
before  the  trumpets  of  Joshua  signifies  the  way  in  which 
these  falsehoods  fall  before  the  utterance  of  divine  truth. 
But  the  meaning  of  Jericho  as  a  part  of  the  Holy  Land  is,  an 
early  or  introductory  doctrine  of  religious  truth. 

The  man  in  the  parable  was  going  from  Jerusalem  to 
Jericho.  He  represents  one  who,  from  a  love  of  good,  is 
seeking  to  learn  the  doctrine  which  shall  teach  him  what 
good  is,  and  how  to  begin  a  truly  good  life. 

He  fell  among  thieves.  Thieves,  spiritually,  are  thieves 
of  spiritual  property ;  of  what  is  true  and  good  ;  of  true 
thoughts,  and  good  affections.  These  thieves  stripped  him, 
and  wounded  him,  and  left  him  half  dead. 

They  stripped  him  when,  by  their  falsities,  they  wrested 
what  truths  he  possessed  from  his  mind ;  for  truths  are  the 
garments  of  affections.  Throughout  the  Bible,  garments  and 
clothing  bear   this   sense.      Of   the   innumerable   instances 


THE  HEM  OF  HIS   GARMENT.  296 

which  might  be  cited  to  illustrate  this  correspondence  I  con- 
tent myself  with  the  following. 

In  the  104th  Psalm,  ver.  2,  it  is  said  of  the  Lord,  "  Who 
coverest  thyself  with  light  as  a  garment,"  and  in  ver.  6  "  Thou 
coveredst  it  (the  earth)  with  the  deep  as  a  garment."  How 
well  this  illustrates  a  correspondence  meeting  us  as  constantly 
in  New  Church  writings  as  light  and  water  meet  us  in  actual 
life !  The  divine  wisdom  is  the  garment  or  clothing  of  the 
divine  love.  Its  first  natural  form  is  light,  the  correspond- 
ence between  which  and  truth  has  always  been  seen,  and 
preserved  in  common  language,  as  when  one  says,  "  I  see 
that,"  meaning,  "  I  understand  it."  Hence,  light  is  the  vest- 
ure of  God.  But  when  the  divine  Creator  comes  lower 
down  into  nature,  the  solid  world  is  the  general  correspond- 
ent of  all  the  affections  produced  by  the  ruflux  of  His  love, 
and  the  liquid  world  that  of  the  truths  and  thoughts  caused 
by  the  influx  of  His  wisdom.  These  last  are  the  garments 
of  the  former ;  hence,  the  earth  "  is  covered  with  the  deep 
as  a  garment." 

In  the  instances  stated  in  the  gospel,  where  the  sick  were 
cured  if  they  could  but  touch  the  hem  of  his  garment,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  when  multitudes  thronged  him 
"  virtue  went  out  of  Him,"  only  to  those  who,  with  faith  in 
Him,  touched  the  hem  of  His  garments.  And  it  always  goes 
forth  to  heal  and  bless  those  who,  with  faith  in  Him,  lay  their 
hands  on  His  truths,  or  His  words,  on  any  which  they  can 
understand  and  obey,  although  only  the  least  and  outermost ; 
only  the  hem  of  His  garment. 

When  our  Lord  was  crucified,  the  soldiers  fulfilled  th 
"  Scripture  which  saith.  They  parted  my  raiment  among 
them,  and  for  my  vesture  they  did  cast  lots."  The  word 
translated  vesture  means  the  inner  garment,  worn  next  the 
body ;  the  word  translated  raiment  means  the  outer  garment. 
This  inner  garment  was  "  without  seam ;  woven  from  the  top 
throughout ; "  it  cori'esponds  to  and  represents  the  internal 


296  WOUNDED  BY  THIEVES. 

sense  of  the  Word,  which  is  without  seam,  or  not  made  in 
parts,  but  woven  from  the  top  throughout,  as  one  continuous 
web  of  truth  from  the  infinite  source  and  summit  of  all  truth. 
This  has  been  mercifully  preserved  through  all  the  corrup- 
tions of  the  church,  that  it  might  not  be  rent  asunder ;  pre- 
served from  knowledge  when  this  knowledge  must  have 
been  perverted  and  falsified.  But  the  outer  garment,  the 
literal  sense,  has  been  delivered  to  men's  hands,  and  they 
have  torn  it  into  fragments,  and  divided  these  fragments 
among  themselves.  There  never  yet  was  a  heresy  that  did 
not  rest  upon,  or  suppose  that  it  rested  upon,  some  texts  of 
Scripture,  torn  from  their  connections,  and  so  wrested  from 
their  true  meanings. 

Finally,  the  saved,  who  were  clothed  in  white  robes,  are 
said  to  be  those  "  who  have  come  out  of  great  tribulation, 
and  have  washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb."  The  blood  of  the  Lamb  signifies  His 
holy,  and  divine  Truth ;  and  only  by  receiving  this  in  faith 
and  love,  and  permitting  it  to  cleanse  away  our  sins,  can  the 
garments  of  our  Soul  be  washed  white. 

The  thieves  also  wounded  this  poor  man.  They  wounded 
him  when  they  struck  at  his  affections ;  at  whatever  love  of 
good  he  possessed,  and  wounded  that.  And  they  left  him 
half  dead,  because  they  had  taken  all  they  could  of  the  life  of 
his  understanding  and  of  his  affections. 

Wofully  does  this  poor  man  need  help.  From  whom 
shall  he  have  it  ? 

In  the  texts  preceding  this  parable,  our  Lord  had  given  the 
two  great  commandments  of  love  to  God,  and  love  to  the 
neighbor.  The  priest  should  have  been  the  minister  of,  and 
should  have  corresponded  to,  the  first ;  and  the  Levite  should 
have  been  the  servant  of,  and  corresponded  to,  the  second. 
But  they  were  the  priest  and  the  Levite  of  a  perverted,  cor- 
rupted, desolated  church.  Their  love  to  God  and  to  the 
neighbor  were  such  loves  as  prevailed  in  that  church.     They 


SET  HIM  ON  HIS   OWN  BEAST.  297 

could  not  help  this  sufferer,  and  they  had  no  desire  to  help 
him ;  they  passed  by  the  other  way. 

Because  Samaria  was  between  Judea  and  the  neathen 
world  around,  and  occupied  this  middle  place  also  in  religious 
belief  and  observance,  the  Samaritan  corresponds  to  one  who, 
although  a  heathen,  is  yet  not  without  some  true  and  re- 
generative religious  influence.  He  may  represent  one  who 
is  nominally  within,  or  nominally  without  the  church ;  if 
only  he  has  some  knowledge  of  the  truths  of  religion,  and 
loves  them,  and  lives  in  accordance  with  them. 

Therefore  he  bound  up  the  wounds  of  the  dying  man,  and 
dressed  them  with  oil  and  wine  ;  or  with  whatever  he  had  of 
the  heavenly  truth  which  radiates  from  love  of  goodness,  or 
of  the  spiritual  truth  which  teaches  in  a  lower  way  how  to 
love  the  neighbor. 

And  he  set  him  on  his  own  beast.  Every  animal  used  by 
man  to  bear  him  along  paths  and  roads,  corresponds  to  the 
faculty  of  the  human  understanding  which  men  possess  to 
advance  along  the  truths  and  doctrines  which  are  as  pathways 
for  the  mind.  And  here  again  the  Bible  is  full  of  illustra- 
tions of  this  correspondence,  on  which  I  will  not  delay.  The 
Samaritan  who  sets  the  sufferer  on  his  own  beast,  is  one  who 
gives  to  such  a  sufferer  all  the  help  he  can  from  his  own  un- 
derstanding, and  bears  him  along  to  a  condition,  or  into  rela- 
tions, where  he  may  receive  more  help. 

The  Samaritan  carried  him  to  an  inn,  and  left  him  there, 
and  invoked  for  him  the  help  he  needed,  and,  in  his  humble 
way,  proved  his  desire  that  this  help  should  be  given. 

The  Samaritan  represents  one  who  cannot  himself  do 
much,  or  at  least  not  all,  and  knows  that  what  he  can  do  is 
only  the  beginning,  and  that  more  is  needed ;  but  who  gladly 
does  all  he  can. 

An  inn  offers  a  home  for  the  wayfarer,  while  he  needs  it, 
and  supplies  him  with  food  and  drink  and  the  means  of  rest. 
And  it  represents  that,  or  them,  who  gladly  meet  the  spiritual 


298  TEE  RICH  MAN  AND  LAZARUS. 

wayfarer,  and  supply  his  soul  with  the  food  and  drink  and 
rest  it  requires,  and  thus  endeavor  to  perfect  his   cure  if  he 
be  wounded  or  sick.     To  such  hands  as  these,  they  whom  the* 
Samaritan  represents  bear  such  a  sufferer  as  this. 

There  are  many  now  going  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho ; 
many  who  are  now  moved  by  a  desire  to  be  better  than  they 
are,  to  seek,  in  this  revelation  of  new  truth,  the  means  of 
becoming  better.  And  many  are  the  thieves  who  lie  in 
wait  for  the  wayfarer,  and  when  he  comes  within  their  reach, 
assail  him,  and  strip  him,  and  wound  him,  and  leave  him  half 
dead  ?  If  we  meet  one  upon  whom  this  suffering  and  this 
peril  have  fallen,  can  we  forget  the  lesson  of  this  parable  ? 
Will  we  not  do  for  them  all  that  we  know  how  to  do,  and 
gladly  lead  them  within  the  reach  of  influences  which  may 
do  more  ? 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  RICH  MAN  AND  LAZARUS. 

19  There  was  a  certain  rich  man  which  was  clothed  in  purple  and 
fine  linen,  and  fared  sumptuously  every  day  : 

20  And  there  was  a  certain  beggar  named  Lazarus,  which  was  laid 
at  his  gate,  full  of  sores, 

21  And  desiring  to  be  fed  with  the  crumbs  which  fell  from  the  rich 
man's  table :  moreover,  the  dogs  came  and  licked  his  sores. 

22  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  beggar  died,  and  was  carried  by 
the  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom  :  the  rich  man  also  died,  and  was 
buried ; 

23  And  in  hell  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in  torments,  and  secth 
Abraham  afar  oflf",  and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom. 

24  And  he  cried,  and  said,  Father  Abraham,  have  mercy  on  me, 
and  send  Lazarus,  that  he  may  dip  the  tip  of  his  finger  in  water,  and 
cool  my  tongue  ;  for  I  am  tormented  in  this  flame. 

25  But  Abraham  said,  Son,  remember  that  thou  in  thy  lifetime  re- 
ceivedst  thy  good  things,  and  likewise  Lazarus  evil  things  :  but  now  he 
is  comforted,  and  thou  art  tormented. 

26  And  besides  all  this,  between  us  and  you  there  is  a  great  gulf 
fixed;  so  that  they  which  would  pass  from  hence  to  you  cannot; 
neither  can  they  pass  to  us,  that  would  come  from  thence. 


MOSES  AND  TEE  PROPHETS.  299 

27  Then  he  said,  I  pray  thee  therefore,  fkther,  that  thou  wouldest 
send  him  to  my  father's  house  : 

28  For  I  have  five  brethren ;  that  he  may  testify  unto  them,  lest 
they  also  come  into  this  place  of  torment. 

29  Abraham  saith  unto  him,  They  have  Moses  and  the  prophets ; 
let  them  hear  them. 

30  And  he  said,  Nay,  fether  Abraham  :  but  if  one  went  unto  them 
from  the  dead,  they  will  repent. 

31  And  he  said  unto  him.  If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets, 
neither  will  they  be  persuaded,  though  one  rose  from  the  dead.  — 
Luke  xvi.  19-31. 

While  every  event  of  a  man's  life,  and  all  of  his  surround- 
ings, may  be  made  the  means  of  salvation,  the  central  means 
which  makes  all  others  effectual,  is  the  Word  of  God.  The 
rich  man,  in  hell,  prayed  that  Lazarus  might  be  sent  to  his 
father's  house,  to  testify  unto  his  five  brethren,  "  lest  they  also 
come  to  this  place  of  torment.  Abraham  said  unto  him,  .  .  . 
They  have  Moses  and  the  prophets ;  let  them  hear  them. 
And  he  said.  Nay,  Father  Abraham ;  but  if  one  went  unto 
them  from  the  dead,  they  will  repent.  And  he  said  unto 
him,  if  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither  will 
they  be  persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the  dead." 

The  sufficiency  of  the  Bible  is  here  emphatically  stated ; 
but  far  more  than  its  sufficiency  is  true.  The  Bible  must 
needs  be  as  much  better  adapted  for  the  instruction  of  men 
than  any  thing  taught  by  the  declarations  of  created  beings, 
as  infinite  wisdom  is  more  than  finite  wisdom.  For  the 
Bible  is  the  Word  of  God ;  it  is  infinite  wisdom  itself,  adapt- 
ing itself  to  every  possible  state  of  created  existence  capable 
of  receiving  truth.  It  is  the  Word  of  God,  uttered  by  Him 
for  that  very  purpose. 

It  may  be  said  in  reply,  If  this  be  so,  why  do  we  learn  from 
Swedenborg ;  why  do  we  believe  his  declarations  which  do 
most  certainly  purport  to  add  important  facts  to  those  dis- 
closed by  the  Bible  ? 

The  answer  is,  that  the  Bible  is  absolutely  sufficient,  and 
perfectly  adapted  to  bring  men  into  the  state  or  condition  of 


300  TRUTH  ALONE  OF  NO  VALUE. 

mind,  both  intellectually  and  affectionally,  in  whicli  they  may 
learn  truths  which  are  the  beginning  and  foundation  of  all 
truth.  And  when  these  are  learned  and  loved,  more  may  be 
taught.  And  as  the  influence  of  the  Bible  increases  among 
men,  God's  gifts  to  them,  by  such  means  as  He  may  see  to  be 
the  best,  may  increase  indefinitely.  Always  however,  this  wiU 
be  the  test.  Whatever  is  told  in  any  way,  if  it  contradicts, 
or  cDntemns,  or  disregards  the  Bible,  or  lays  it  aside,  must  be 
false ;  and  only  that  which  perfectly  accords  with  the  Bible, 
and  increases  our  knowledge  and  sense  of  its  sanctity,  and 
makes  it  more  luminous,  and  more  plainly  the  source  of  light, 
can  be  true. 

"  If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither  will 
they  be  persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the  dead."  If  they 
hear  not  the  Bible,  it  is  because  their  opposition  to  truth  is 
such  that  it  cannot  reach  them.  But  could  not  other  truth 
reach  them  ;  and  why  has  not  Omnipotence  given  more  defi- 
nite instruction  concerning  the  other  world  than  any  thing 
contained  in  the  Bible  ?  The  reply  to  this  question  requires 
some  consideration  of  a  most  important  principle. 

It  is  this ;  that  Truth,  of  any  kind,  or  any  amount,  is,  by 
itself,  of  no  value,  and  may  be  harmful.  The  absolute  demon- 
stration of  this,  for  those  who  believe  in  God  and  in  his 
divine  providence,  may  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  He  does  not 
give  truth  of  any  kind  to  men,  excepting  slowly,  gradually, 
and  under  many  veils.  Of  course  it  might  be  otherwise.  If 
it  were  His  will,  truth  and  all  truth  might  be  written  on  the 
clouds,  or  leaves,  or  stones,  or  spoken  by  every  breath  of 
wind ;  or  offer  itself  spontaneously  to  the  human  intellect. 
In  point  of  fact,  men  are  left  as  it  were  to  grope  their  way ; 
but  are  aided  at  every  step,  and  always  guided  in  the  right  di- 
rection if  they  are  willing  to  be  guided,  and  while  they  can 
advance  only  slowly  and  gradually,  that  advance  may  be 
permanent  and  perpetual. 

For  this  universal  law  of  divine  providence,  there  must  be  a 


THEY  WHO  DO  NOT  HEAR  THE  BIBLE.        301 

reason ;  and  it  must  be  Grod's  reason  ;  and  therefore  it  must 
satisfy  perfect  love  and  wisdom.  All  the  love  and  wisdom 
within  this  reason,  or  this  providence,  we  cannot  see ;  but 
something  of  it  we  may  see.  We  may  see  that  truth,  of  it- 
self, is  never  an  end,  but  always  a  means  ;  always  a  means  to 
good  which  is  always  the  end.  But  while  it  is  conceivable 
that  all  truth  might  be  flashed  upon  the  mental  eye  at  once, 
it  is  not  conceivable  that  man  should  become  good  excepting 
by  the  use  of  his  own  freedom ;  and  not  otherwise  than  by 
the  gradual  process  of  putting  his  evils  away  and  comfirming 
and  enlarging  by  choice  and  practice  his  love  of  the  opposite 
goodness.  Truth,  with  no  love  for  the  good  which  it  in- 
culcates, is  the  brilliant  and  barren  light  of  winter  which 
neither  looks  on  life  nor  brings  life. 

This  being  the  constant  and  universal  end  of  divine  provi- 
dence, we  may  now  see  why  truth  is  given,  first,  only  in  the 
quantity  and  degree  in  which  it  may  best  be  given ;  and 
secondly,  that  it  must  be  given  in  the  form  and  manner  best 
adapted  to  making  men  grow  better  in  their  affections  and 
life,  and  so  able  to  receive  safely  more  truth. 

If  those  who  are  represented  by  the  five  brethren  will  not 
hear  the  Bible,  they  might  still  be  persuaded  by  overwhelm- 
ing evidence,  to  believe  the  facts  of  another  life ;  but  they 
could  not  be  persuaded  to  believe  these  in  a  good  way,  or  to 
a  good  end.  K  they  could  receive  truth  as  it  should  be  re- 
ceived, and  use  it  as  it  should  be  used,  they  would  receive  it 
from  the  Bible  ;  and  if  their  minds  were  in  that  healthy  con- 
dition, and  truth  was  received  from  other  sources,  it  would  be 
received  because  it  was  guarded  by  its  recognition  of  and  its 
reverence  for  the  Bible,  from  becoming  the  minister  of  evil. 

In  these  days,  truths,  or  statements  concerning  the  life  after 
death,  are  offered  by  what  is  called  Spiritualism,  which  I 
like  better  to  call  Spiritism.  This  may  be  (I  do  not  know 
that  it  is)  something  other  than  a  mere  falsehood,  whatever 


302  MAOIC. 

amount  of  falsehood  be  mingled  with  it.  But  with  all  its  ac- 
tivity, and  its  unquestionably  wide  diffusion,  and  its  extreme 
attractiveness  for  many  minds,  the  great  majority  do  still  re- 
ject it  and  utterly  deny  its  truth.  The  causes  of  this  rejection 
are  numerous.  Some  persons  reject  it  from  simple  inability  to 
believe  that  any  thing  spiritual  or  preternatural  exists  ;  others 
from  mere  indifference ;  this  world  is  every  thing  to  them, 
and  they  have  no  thought  nor  care  for  any  thing  beyond 
it.  Others,  because  it  is  obvious  that  there  is  an  enormous 
amount  of  illusion  and  fraud  and  falsehood  mingled  with  it, 
and  they  do  not  believe  that  this  mass  of  chaff  contains  a 
single  grain  of  wheat.  Others,  because  they  see  much  of 
folly  in  what  it  calls  its  revelations,  and  an  entire  absence 
of  all  that  can  give  clearness  and  force  to  any  true  religious 
sentiment,  and  they  are  certain  that  if  it  is  not  made  in  this 
world  it  comes  from  below,  and  they  cannot  suppose  that  new 
gates  of  hell  are  opened. 

We  have  not  the  slightest  wish  to  lessen  the  number  of 
those  who,  for  any  reason,  reject  spiritism.  But,  after  much 
inquiry  into,  and  some  observation  of  its  facts  and  evidence, 
we  are  not  able  to  deny,  that  after  the  mass  of  fraud,  false- 
hood, folly,  and  delusion,  which  we  have  already  called  enor- 
mous, is  swept  away,  there  may  still  remain  a  residuum  of 
fact. 

"We  are  told  by  Swedenborg,  that  in  the  remote  past,  there 
was  much  knowledge  of  the  other  world  and  its  relations  to 
this,  and  much  intercourse  between  these  worlds.  As  time 
passed,  and  goodness  decayed,  this  knowledge  and  intercourse 
gradually  degenerated  into  a  kind  of  magic,  and  at  length,  as 
the  condition  of  mankind  became  such  that  this  intercourse 
would  s'lrely  be  perverted  and  injurious,  the  veils  between  the 
worlds  were  thickened,  and  nearly  all  intercourse  arrested. 
In  the  early  histories  of  most  nations,  we  have  narratives  of 
magical  rites  and  effects,  of  oracles  and  the  like,  which  it  has 
been  of  late  years  customary  to  consider  as  mere  falsehood 


NO   UNMIXED  EVIL.  303 

and  juggling.  They  were  so  in  great  part,  no  doubt ;  they 
may  have  been  so  altogether ;  but  modern  clairvoyance  and 
spiritism  suggest  that  similar  things  may  have  been  known 
and  done  in  ancient  times. 

If  it  be  asked  why  a  thing  so  likely  to  become  evil,  and 
evil  only,  and  once  suppressed  on  that  account,  is  now  again 
permitted,  the  answer  is,  that  now  also  new  truth  is  given, 
and  new  influences  are  descending  to  earth,  by  means  of 
which  this  evil  may  be  resisted,  and  the  thing  itself  event- 
ually made  useful.  We  live  in  this  world,  between  heaven 
and  hell.  Influences  from  above  and  from  below  meet  and 
mingle  in  every  thing  of  earth,  and  almost  every  thing  of  our 
earthly  life.  By  this  conflict  or  this  mingling  an  equilibrium 
is  produced,  and  our  freedom  is  preserved  ;  and  through  this 
freedom,  onli/  through  this  freedom,  can  our  work  be  done. 
Sometimes  the  good  and  sometimes  the  evil  prevails,  but  sel- 
dom, if  ever,  does  either  now  prevail  to  the  entire  exclusion  of 
the  other.  All  changes  of  this  kind  are  governed  by  the 
wisdom  and  the  love  which  always  provide  for  our  well-being, 
and  always  are  ready  to  guide  and  lead  us  but  not  to  force  us. 
The  coming  of  the  New  Church  seemed  almost  to  require  an 
opposite ;  and  finds  it,  as  we  think,  in  Spiritism. 

But  unmixed  evil,  or  that  which  must  of  necessity  result  in 
evil,  is  not  permitted.  And  already  we  can  see  —  so  at  least 
it  seems  —  good  mingled  with  the  evil  which  Spiritism  causes. 
It  breaks  up  the  indurated  unbelief  which  threatened  to  extin- 
guish in  many  minds  all  possibility  of  believing  more  than 
animals  do.  It  produces  doubt  and  inquiry,  and  may  thus 
open  an  entrance  for  truth.  It  may  lead  those  who  could  be 
led  by  nothing  higher  away  from  merely  sensuous  natural- 
ism ;  and  not  so  far  towards  the  denial  of  God  and  the  wor- 
ship of  self,  but  that  they  may  retain  the  capacity  of  learning 
the  truth  in  another  life,  if  not  in  this. 

One  great  danger,  and  perhaps  the  greatest,  of  Spiritism, 
springs  from  a  falsehood  of  which  the  New  Church  offers  direct 


304  SUPERNATURAL. 

and  adequate  correction.  It  is  the  common  belief,  that  if  any 
thing  come  from  another  world,  it  must  come  with  authority  ; 
it  must  be  true.  This  belief  itself  arises  from  the  utter  igno- 
rance not  only  of  what  the  other  world  is,  but  of  its  existence. 
When  persons  wholly  devoid  of  truth  in  this  respect  are  first 
persuaded  that  there  is  another  world,  they  can  hardly  avoid 
the  belief  that  light  must  be  unclouded  and  unmingled  there, 
and  that  he  who  speaks  from  beyond  the  grave  must  neces- 
sarily know,  and  speak,  only  what  is  true. 

We  have  in  our  language  the  two  words,  supernatural,  and 
preternatural,  and  they  are  used  as  if  they  meant  the  same 
thing ;  indeed  we  have  never  noticed,  either  in  what  we  have 
read  or  heard,  any  difference  between  them.  We  ought  to 
have  a  third  word,  Subternatural.  A  thing  may  be  preter- 
natural, or  come  from  beyond  nature  ;  but  whether  it  is  good 
or  bad,  true  or  false,  depends  upon  whether  it  comes  down  to 
us  from  above  nature,  and  then  we  may  call  it  Supernatural, 
or  up  to  us  from  below  nature,  and  then  it  should  be  called 
Subternatural. 

All  men  learn  by  death,  the  fact  of  another  world.  But, 
as  has  been  already  said,  they  learn  from  this  fact,  and  from 
the  laws  and  beings  and  life  they  see  there,  very  different 
things.  Bad  men  find  in  all  that  they  can  see  only  confirma- 
tions of  all  their  evils  and  all  their  falsehoods.  And  if  such 
persons  are  permitted  to  communicate  with  men  on  earth, 
they  may  tell  the  new  things  they  have  learnt ;  but  if  they 
have  learned  only  the  new  things  which  suit  their  character, 
the  things  they  have  to  tell,  and  love  to  tell,  and  believe  to 
be  entirely  true,  will  tend  to  form  only  such  a  character  as 
their  own. 

All  men  learn  by  death  the  fact  of  another  life ;  the  time 
must  therefore  come  to  all  when  they  know  it ;  and  it  is  of 
very  little  importance  whether  this  fact  alone  be  learned  a 
little  sooner  or  a  little  later.  But  it  is  of  vast  importance, 
that  this  fact  be  learned  at  such  time,  in  such  a  way,  and  in 


MOSES  AND   THE  PROPHETS.  305 

such  a  form,  as  shall  build  up  in  the  mind  an  affinity  for  the 
good,  and  an  aptitude  to  live  with  the  good  in  happiness 
hereafter.  It  is  of  comparatively  little  importance  how  much 
of  the  details  of  another  life  one  learns  in  this  life ;  but  it  is 
of  transcendent  and  inexpressible  importance,  that  what  he 
leai-ns  should  accord  with  the  instruction  of  that  Word  of 
God,  which  is  to  be  the  guide  and  guard  of  his  eternal  life,  if 
that  hfe  be  not  spiritual  death. 

It  is  however  a  common  belief  that  the  Scriptures  tell  us 
nothing  about  the  other  life;  the  Old  Testament  not  even 
declaring,  and  the  New  Testament  only  declaring,  the  fact  of 
that  life.  And  the  question  has  been  asked.  Why  should  the 
five  brethren  be  persuaded  by  "  Moses  and  the  prophets  "  to 
believe  what  neither  Moses  nor  the  prophets  ever  say  ? 

There  is  some  error  in  this.  The  three  churches,  the 
Israelitish,  the  first  Christian,  and  the  second  or  new  Christian 
Church,  stand  to  each  other  in  a  serial  relation,  on  this  point, 
as  on  all  others.  To  the  first  or  Israelitish  Church  a  Word 
was  given,  in  which  God  spake,  in  the  letter,  for  the  most 
part,  to  merely  natural  men  and  in  merely  natural  forms.  In 
this  Word,  the  existence  and  sovereign  power  of  the  One 
God  was  asserted  with  all  the  force  which  human  words 
could  supply ;  because  this  is  the  first  fact  which  natural  men 
must  learn  that  they  may  cease  to  be  natural.  And  the  laws 
of  life  were  added,  in  some  form  and  with  some  sanctions  as 
might  best  help  men  to  ascend  from  the  depths  of  natural- 
ness. 

To  the  first  Christian  church  a  Word  was  given,  which  was 
addressed  to  men  who  might  acquire  a  knowledge  of,  and 
attain  to  an  obedience  to  spiritual  truth.  And  this  truth 
brings  man  into  the  very  presence  of  God,  because  it  teaches 
that  God  has  come  down,  personally,  into  the  very  nature 
and  person  of  a  man,  and  so  lived  among  men.  And  it 
teaches  the  resurrection  into  a  future  life,  with,  absolute 
unreserve. 

20 


806  ANGELS  ARE  MEN. 

To  the  New  Church  no  new  Word  is  given ;  but  new 
senses  of  the  Word  are  given,  which  show  that  the  Word 
contains  the  infinite  wisdom  of  God.  The  truths  of  this  New 
Church  are  addressed  to  those  who  may  attain  unto  a 
knowledge  of,  an  obedience  to,  and  a  love  for  heavenly  truth. 
It  discloses  the  relation  of  man  to  his  Creator,  and  of  this 
world  to  the  other ;  and  it  gives  abundant  details  illustrative 
of  this  relation.  It  is  not  however  true  that  Moses  and  the 
prophets  give  no  information  as  to  spiritual  life ;  for  it  is  true 
that  from  them,  aided  by  the  Gospels,  much  information  has 
been  given,  much,  which  in  all  ages  has  been,  and  still  is, 
received. 

Angels  are  spiritual  beings  whose  home  is  heaven.  Innu- 
merable passages  even  in  the  Old  Testament  represent  them 
as  appearing  in  the  human  form,  and  as  speaking  and  acting 
as  men ;  and  in  some,  they  are  called  alternately  men  or 
angels,  as  if  one  of  these  names  applied  to  them  as  much  as 
the  other ;  as  in  Genesis  xix.,  where  the  angels  who  came  to 
Lot  are  so  designated.  In  the  Gospels  are  many  passages,  in 
which  it  is  said  that  the  good,  in  the  other  life,  shall  be  as 
the  angels  of  heaven ;  and  in  the  Apocalypse,  the  angel  re- 
fused the  worship  offered  by  John,  saying  unto  him,  "  I  am 
thy  fellow-servant  and  of  thy  brethren  the  prophets,  and  of 
them  which  keep  the  sayings  of  this  book ; "  thus  distinctly 
asserting  that  angels  are  brethren  of  the  prophets,  and  that 
the  book  was  written  for  angels  as  well  as  men.  From  all 
this  testimony  there  has  undoubtedly  existed  in  all  ages,  and 
still  exists  with  the  simple-minded,  —  even  in  this  age,  when 
prevailing  unbelief  has  wrapped  most  thinking  men  in  the 
darkness  of  midnight,  —  a  firm  belief,  or,  if  we  use  a  word 
used  in  the  parable  we  are  speaking  of,  an  undoubting  "  per- 
suasion," that  angels  are  glorified  human  beings,  and  that  men 
who  go  to  heaven  where  angels  are,  become  angels  with 
them. 

Swedenborg  gives  to  us  many  details,  and  in  some  instances 


SPIRITISM.  307 

on  some  points  minute  details,  of  life  in  the  other  world ;  and 
"  Spiritism "  purports  to  do  the  like ;  and  the  details  thus 
given  differ  in  many  respects,  and  the  laws  of  spiritual  life 
given  by  Spiritism  differ  totally  from  those  given  by  Sweden- 
borg.  Both  we  cannot  believe.  Which  shall  we  believe? 
Let  us  answer  this  question  by  applying  the  test  suggested 
by  this  parable.  Let  us  see  which  testimony  accords  best 
with  "  Moses  and  the  prophets,"  and,  we  add,  the  Gospels. 

Jn  the  first  place,  Swedenborg  asserts,  as  strongly  as  is 
possible,  the  sanctity  and  authority  of  the  Bible.  Next,  he 
declares  that  there  is  one  personal  God,  the  creator  of  the 
whole  universe,  spiritual  and  natural.  Then,  that  this  God 
came  to  earth,  and  in  the  Virgin  Mary  put  on  a  human 
nature,  and  made  it  divine,  or  One  with  the  Father ;  and  thus 
became  Immanuel,  or  God  with  us,  with  all  men,  and  with  all 
the  angels  of  all  the  heavens,  for  ever.  Lastly,  that  there  is 
no  real  happiness,  and  through  all  eternity  never  can  be,  except 
in  acknowledging,  obeying,  and  loving  Him,  and  in  loving  the 
neighbor  because  all  men  are  brethren  and  His  children,  and 
all  the  good  in  them  is  His  good.  And  all  the  statements  of 
Swedenborg,  and  aU  the  information  which  he  gives  us  con- 
cerning the  spi'-ltual  world,  accord  with  and  illustrate  these 
principles. 

Upon  all  these  points,  we  apprehend  that  Spiritism  is  the 
exact  antagonist  of  Swedenborg.  So  far  as  I  have  been  able 
to  gather  its  prevalent  principles  from  its  writings,  which  are 
seldom  clear,  and  sometimes  seem  to  be  otherwise  designedly, 
these  principles  cannot  be  better  described,  than  by  calling 
them  the  precise  opposites  of  those  above  stated  as  the  prin- 
ciples of  Swedenborg.  Spiritism  ranks  the  Bible  with  other 
books,  and  regards  it  as  full  of  errors  and  deficiencies,  and  as 
having  no  more  sanctity  and  authority  than  other  human 
productions,  and  decidedly  postpones  it  to  the  revelations  of 
"  The  Spirits."  It  denies  that  there  is  any  personal  God,  or 
any  other  God  but  the  universal  All,  or  Nature.     It  regards 


808  THE   TEN  VIRGINS. 

our  Lord  and  Saviour  as  one  among  men,  differing  from  other 
men  in  no  essential  particular  of  origin,  or  function,  or 
character.  And  it  teaches  that  life  in  the  other  world  is  one 
of  constant  and  universal  improvement  for  all  men,  to  all 
alike  and  equally,  to  aU  by  the  development  of  merely  human 
powers,  the  enlightment  of  human  reason,  and  the  cultivation  of 
human  nature,  but  of  course  without  divine  influence  or  help, 
because  there  is  no  God,  from  whom  such  influence  or  help 
could  come.  And  the  statements  of  Spiritism  and  the  infor- 
mation which  it  gives  us  concerning  the  spiritual  world, 
accord  with  and  illustrate  these  principles. 

"What  our  conclusion  is  as  to  the  preference  to  be  given  to 
Swedenborg  or  to  Spiritism,  after  thus  testing  them  by  Moses 
and  the  prophets  and  the  Gospels,  need  not  be  said.  But  it 
should  be  added,  as  an  inevitable  result  of  this  comparison, 
that  it  is  not  a  question  of  preference  between  two  sources  of 
information,  from  both  of  which  something  may  be  learnt. 
It  is  a  question  of  rejection.  For  if  Swedenborg  is  received, 
Spiritism  must  be  rejected,  as  having  no  authority;  as  im- 
parting no  instruction  which  may  make  one  "wise  unto 
salvation." 


THE   PABABLE   OF   THE    TEN   VIRaiNS. 

1  Then  shall  the  kingdom  of  heaven  be  likened  unto  ten  virgins, 
which  took  their  lamps,  and  went  forth  to  meet  the  bridegroom. 

2  And  five  of  them  were  wise,  and  five  were  foolish. 

8  They  that  were  fooUsh  took  their  lamps,  and  took  no  oil  with 
them : 

4  But  the  wise  took  oil  in  their  vessels  with  their  lamps. 

5  While  the  bridegroom  tarried,  they  all  slumbered  and  slept. 

6  And  at  midnight  there  was  a  cry  made,  Behold,  the  bridegroom 
Cometh  ;  go  ye  out  to  meet  him. 

7  Then  all  those  virgins  arose,  and  trimmed  their  lamps. 

8  And  the  foolish  said  unto  the  wise,  Give  us  of  your  oil ;  for  our 
lamps  are  gone  out. 

9  But  the  wise  answered,  saying,  Not  so;  lest  there  be  not  enough 


THE  MIDNIGHT  CRY.  309 

for  us  and  you :  but  go  ye  rather  to  them  that  sell,  and  buy  for 
yourselves. 

10  And  while  they  went  to  buy,  the  bridegroom  came ;  and  they 
that  were  ready,  went  in  with  him  to  the  marriage :  and  the  door  was 
shut. 

11  Afterward  came  also  the  other  virgins,  saying,  Lord,  Lord,  open 
to  us. 

12  But  he  answered  and  said.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  I  know  you 
not. 

13  Watch  therefore,  for  ye  know  neither  the  day  nor  the  hour 
wherein  the  Son  of  man  cometh.  —  Matt.  xxv.  1-13. 

In  the  explanation  of  the  preceding  parable,  and  often  else- 
where, it  has  been  said  that  truth,  of  itself,  has  no  value.  It 
is  a  means  to  an  end.  The  end  is  the  love  of  good.  And 
where  there  is  nothing  of  this  love  within  the  truth,  it  has  no 
tendency  to  lead  to  this  end,  and  therefore  has  no  value,  and 
soon  perishes. 

Vividly  is  this  principle  presented  in  the  parable  of  the  ten 
virgins.  All  of  them  had  lamps ;  all  of  them  possessed  the 
instruments  of  light ;  for  a  lamp  always  and  obviously  —  as 
where  it  is  said,  "  Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto  my  feet "  —  repre- 
sents an  instrument  of  guiding  truth.  But  only  half  of  them 
had  oil  with  their  lamps.  Gil,  as  a  liquid,  belongs  to  the  gen- 
eral division  of  what  is  intellectual ;  but  it  is  more  than  drink, 
it  is  food ;  and  while  it  means  truth,  it  means  heavenly  truth  ; 
it  means  truth  flowing  from  and  instinct  with  the  life  of  a  love 
for  the  highest  good,  for  God.  They  who  have  this  truth, 
have  "  oil  in  their  vessels  with  their  lamps."  And  only  they 
who  have  this  oil  with  their  lamps  are  admitted  to  the  wed- 
ding. 

The  midnight  cry  was  heard ;  the  day  was  wholly  ended ; 
the  day  in  which  man  should  do  his  work.  When  it  is  done, 
the  judgment  comes  ;  and  according  to  this  judgment,  some 
enter  into  the  wedding,  and  some  do  not. 

The  wedding  means  heaven.  It  is  a  wedding  between  what 
is  true  and  what  is  good ;  it  takes  place  when  what  is  known 


310  THE  FIVE   TALENTS. 

as  true  is  also  loved  as  good ;  when  what  ia  known  as  true 
is  loved  because  it  teaches  good  and  leads  to  good. 

In  the  supreme  and  infinite  sense  this  marriage  exists  be- 
tween the  Divine  Love  and  the  Divine  Wisdom,  for  they  are 
perfectly  united,  and  perfectly  one.  From  this  divine  union 
comes  down  the  conjugal  principle  by  which  all  creation  is 
produced  and  governed.  It  is  this  divine  union  which  enters 
into  every  good  marriage,  which  causes  them  who  are  thus 
married  to  be  "  no  more  twain  but  one  flesh,"  and  makes  a 
good  and  genuine  marriage  the  source  and  consummation  of 
all  blessedness.  And  it  is  opposition  to  this  divine  union, 
which  makes  adultery,  and  every  act  and  lust  and  concupis- 
cence leading  to  adultery,  infernal  and  destructive.  For 
whatever  leads  to  adultery,  in  act,  or  desire,  or  thought,  of 
any  kind  or  any  degree,  comes  from  hell,  and  carries  back 
into  hell  whatever  it  can  destroy  by  its  poison. 

To  the  heavenly  marriage  they  cannot  enter  in  who  have 
no  oil  in  their  lamps, — for  it  has  not  entered  into  them.  They 
may,  like  those  virgins,  demand  to  enter  in,  they  may  have 
abundant  truth,  and  trust  to  "  faith  alone ; "  but  their  faith, 
because  it  was  not  vivified  and  made  heavenly  by  the  love  of 
the  good  which  the  faith  inculcates,  finds  no  open  door. 

OF   THE   FIVE   TALENTS. 

14  For  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  as  a  man  travelling  into  a  far  country, 
who  called  his  own  servants,  and  delivered  unto  them  his  goods. 

16  And  mito  one  he  gave  five  talents,  to  another  two,  and  to  an- 
other one  ;  to  every  man  according  to  his  several  ability ;  and  straight- 
way took  his  journey. 

16  Then  he  tliat  had  received  the  five  talents  went  and  traded 
with  the  same,  and  made  them  other  five  talents. 

17  And  likewise  he  that  had  received  two,  he  also  gained  other  two. 

18  But  he  that  had  received  one  went  and  digged  in  the  earth,  and 
hid  his  lord's  money. 

19  After  a  long  time  the  lord  of  those  servants  cometh,  and  reck- 
oneth  with  them. 


.     THE  FIVE  ADDING   OTHER  FIVE.  311 

20  And  so  he  that  had  received  five  talents  came  and  brought  other 
five  talents,  saying,  Lord,  thou  deliveredst  unto  me  five  talents :  be- 
hold, I  have  gained  besides  them  five  talents  more. 

21  His  lord  said  unto  him.  Well  done,  thou  good  and  &ithful  ser- 
vant ;  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee  ruler 
over  many  things    enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  lord. 

22  He  also  tha :  had  received  two  talents  came  and  said,  Lord,  thou 
deliveredst  unto  me  two  talents  :  behold,  I  have  gained  two  other  tal- 
ents besides  them. 

23  His  lord  said  unto  him.  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant ; 
thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over 
many  things  :  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  lord. 

24  Then  he  which  had  received  the  one  talent  came  and  said.  Lord, 
I  knew  thee  that  thou  art  an  hard  man,  reaping  where  thou  hast  not 
sown,  and  gathering  where  thou  hast  not  strewed : 

25  And  I  was  afraid,  and  went  and  hid  thy  talent  in  the  earth :  lo, 
there  thou  hast  that  is  thine. 

26  His  lord  answered  and  said  unto  him.  Thou  wicked  and  slothful 
servant,  thou  knewest  that  I  reap  where  I  sowed  not,  and  gather  where 
I  have  not  strewed : 

27  Thou  oughtest  therefore  to  have  put  my  money  to  the  exchan- 
gers, and  then  at  my  coming  I  should  have  received  mine  own  with 
usury. 

28  Take  therefore  the  talent  from  him,  and  give  it  unto  him  which 
hath  ten  talents. 

29  For  unto  every  one  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have 
abundance  :  but  from  him  that  hath  not,  shall  be  taken  away  even  that 
which  he  hath. 

30  And  cast  ye  the  unprofitable  servant  into  outer  darkness :  there 
shall  be  weeping,  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  —  Matt.  xxv.  14-30. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  this  parable  directly  follows  that 
of  the  ten  virgins.  It  begins,  "  For  it  is,"  &c.,  the  it  referring 
to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  just  above  spoken  of;  thus  connect- 
ing the  two  parables.  He  who  had  five  added  to  them  other 
five,  or  acquired  the  corresponding  affections ;  he  that  had 
two  did  likewise ;  and  both  of  these  entered  into  the  joy  of 
their  lord.  But  he  who  had  but  one,  and  left  that  one  bar- 
ren and  fruitless  because  its  correlative  one  of  affection  was 
not  added  to  it,  lost  even  that,  or  all  his  truth,  and  was  cast 
into  outer  darkness,  or  suffered  the  deprivation  of  all  truth. 


312  CHOOSING   TEE  CHIEF  ROOMS. 

This  parable  closes  with  a  phrase,  elsewhere  also  used 
which  may  be  briefly  explained:  "There  shall  be  weeping, 
and  gnashing  of  teeth."  The  human  body  is  the  clothing  and 
form  of  the  human  soul,  and  this  is  in  the  image  of  the  Di- 
vine form ;  and  this  is  true  of  even  the  minutest  particular  of 
the  human  body.  In  a  sound  and  healthy  body,  the  teeth 
receive  the  food,  and  comminute  it,  and  prepare  it  by  mixture 
with  digestive  fluids  for  the  processes  by  which  it  becomes 
assimilated  and  appropriated.  They  represent  and  denote 
those  truths  which  investigate  whatever  is  received  in  the 
mind,  and  begin  the  preparation  which  ends  in  its  becoming 
nourishment  for  the  mind.  For  the  evil  man,  the  same  thing 
is  done,  but  now  in  an  evil  and  perverted  way.  The  teeth 
are  now  the  falsities  which  begin  the  preparation  of  all  that 
is  learned,  by  adapting  it  to  his  own  perverted  condition.  It 
is  the  working  of  these  falsities,  ever  active  in  a  mind  that 
has  become  infernal  and  ever  laboring  to  bring  all  that  is 
learned  or  known  or  thought  into  a  condition  to  nourish  the 
prevailing  and  characterizing  falsehood,  which  is  meant  by 
this  gnashing  of  teeth. 


PARABLE    OF    THOSE    WHO    CHOSE    OUT    THE    CHIEF    ROOMS 
AT    THE    FEAST. 

7  And  he  put  forth  a  parable  to  those  which  were  bidden,  when  he 
marked  how  they  chose  out  the  chief  rooms;  saying  unto  tliem, 

8  When  thou  art  bidden  of  any  man  to  a  wedding,  sit  not  down  in 
the  highest  room,  lest  a  more  honorable  man  than  thou  be  bidden  of 
him; 

9  And  lie  that  bade  thee  and  him  come  and  say  to  thee,  Give  this 
man  place ;  and  thou  begin  with  shame  to  take  the  lowest  room. 

10  But  when  thou  art  bidden,  go  and  sit  down  in  the  lowest  room  ; 
that  when  he  that  bade  thee  cometh,  he  may  say  unto  thee,  Friend, 
go  up  higher :  then  shalt  thou  have  worship  in  the  presence  of  them 
that  sit  at  meat  with  thee. 

11  For  whosoever  exalteth  himself  shall  be  abased ;  and  he  that 
humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted.  — Luke  xiv.  7-11. 


HUMILITY.  313 

A  virtue  which  opposes  itself  distinctly  to  all  evil  and  fal- 
sity is  humility.  The  root  of  all  evil  and  falsity  is  the  love 
of  self;  and  the  essence  of  humility  is  the  renunciation  of 
self.  But  humility  means  many  different  things ;  or  rather 
it  assumes  many  different  aspects.  It  may  be  humility  before 
our  fellow-men,  or  humility  before  God ;  and  each  of  these 
forms  of  humility  exists  and  displays  itself  on  various  planes, 
and  in  different  ways  on  these  different  planes.  In  the  para- 
bles which  remain  to  be  considered,  we  shall  see  how  in- 
struction is  given  us  in  regard  to  this  duty  of  humility,  upon 
all  planes,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest. 

He  who  is  bidden  to  a  wedding  is  told  not  to  take  the 
highest  place,  lest  this  place  be  taken  from  him  and  given  to 
one  who  assumed  for  himself  a  lower  one.  And  in  this  a 
lesson  of  humility  is  taught  in  the  plainest  words,  which  every 
man  in  every  circumstance  of  life  may  profitably  remember. 

In  the  spiritual  sense  more  is  taught.  The  wedding,  and 
the  invitation  to  it  means,  as  before  and  elsewhere,  that 
marriage  of  the  good  and  the  true,  which  constitutes  genuine 
and  heavenly  goodness.  They  who  feel  themselves  invited 
to  this  wedding  must  especially  beware  of  assumption,  and 
pride,  and  self-admiration,  and  depreciation  of  their  neighbors. 
The  reason  given  is,  that  he  who  exalteth  himself  shall  be 
abased,  and  he  who  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted.  In 
common  earthly  matters  this  may  be  so.  In  spiritual  matters, 
it  must  be  so.  The  reason  is,  that  the  life  of  heaven  is  God's 
own  love  and  life  received  in  heaven,  and  by  all  there  known 
to  be  His  life,  His  gift  of  Himself;  that  all  genuine  love  of 
good  is  God's  own  love  received  in  man  and  not  perverted 
there ;  that  the  love  of  self  for  the  sake  of  self  is  the  exact 
antagonist  of  God's  love,  and  love  to  God.  It  follows  neces- 
sarily that  every  man  in  whom  truth  and  good  are  falsified 
and  perverted  by  this  self-love,  and  by  that  form  of  this  self- 
love  which  we  call  pride  and  self-admiration,  miist  be,  because 
God  is  merciful,  brought  down  into  a   condition   in  which 


314  TEE  RICH  MAN. 

whatever  of  truth  or  good  there  is  in  him  may  be  delivered 
from  this  overmastering  evil,  which  would  pervert  it  all. 


THE   RICH   MAN  WHOSE    GROUND   BROUGHT   FORTH 
PLENTIFULLY. 

16  And  he  spake  a  parable  unto  them,  saying,  The  ground  of  a 
certain  rich  man  brought  forth  plentifully : 

17  And  he  thought  within  himself,  saying,  What  shall  I  do,  be- 
cause I  have  no  room  where  to  bestow  my  fruits  1 

18  And  he  said,  This  will  I  do :  I  will  pull  down  my  barns,  and 
build  greater ;  and  there  will  I  bestow  all  my  fruits  and  my  goods. 

19  And  I  will  say  to  my  soul.  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up 
for  many  years ;  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry. 

20  But  God  said  unto  him.  Thou  fool,  this  night  thy  soul  shall  be 
required  of  thee :  then  whose  shall  those  tilings  be  which  thou  hast 
provided  ? 

21  So  is  he  that  layeth  up  treasure  for  himself,  and  is  not  rich 
toward  God.  —  Luke  xii.  16-21. 

In  this  parable  instruction  is  given  which  while,  in  its  lit- 
eral sense,  it  purports  to  rebuke  the  sin  of  covetousness, 
in  its  spiritual  sense,  is  similar  to  that  of  the  parable 
of  those  who  chose  the  chief  places  at  a  wedding.  The 
rich  man  feels  oppressed  with  the  weight  of  his  own  riches. 
He  says.  What  shall  I  do  ?  I  have  no  room  where  to  bestow 
my  fruits. "  The  spiritually  rich,  whose  ground  brings  forth 
plentifully,  is  he  who  surveys  his  own  life,  and  sees  it  full  of 
all  truth  and  all  good  ;  he  is  oppressed  by  the  burden  of  his 
own  excellence ;  he  builds  greater  barns  by  enlarging  the 
consciousness  and  self-complacency  which  enfolds  all  these 
treasures ;  and  he  bids  his  soul  be  entirely  at  ease,  and  dis- 
miss all  doubt  of  his  own  perfect  and  consummate  excellence. 
Fool !  in  that  very  night,  in  the  utter  darkness  of  that  very 
delusion,  his  soul  is  demanded  of  him ;  he  is  made  to  see 
that  his  very  life  is  not  his  own  ;  that  not  one  of  those  good 
things  "  which  he  has  provided  "  is  his  own  ;  for  all  are  God's. 
At  the  close  of  this  parable,  this  spiritual  sense  shines  out 


THE  PHARISEE  AND   THE  PUBLICAN.        315 

and  becomes  apparent :   "  So  is  he  that  layeth  up  treasure 
for  himself  and  is  not  rich  towards  God." 


THE  PARABLE  OP  THE  PHARISEE  AND  THE  PUBLICAN. 

9  And  he  spake  this  parable  unto  certain  which  trusted  in  them- 
selves that  they  were  righteous,  and  despised  others : 

10  Two  men  went  up  into  the  temple  to  pray ;  the  one  a  Pharisee 
and  the  other  a  publican. 

11  The  Pharisee  stood  and  prayed  thus  with  himself,  God,  I  thank 
thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men  are,  extortioners,  unjust,  adulterers, 
or  even  as  this  publican. 

12  I  fast  twice  in  the  week,  I  give  tithes  of  all  that  I  possess. 

13  And  the  publican,  standing  afar  off,  would  not  lift  up  so  much  as 
his  eyes  tmto  heaven,  but  smote  upon  his  breast,  saying,  God  be  mer- 
ciful to  me  a  sinner. 

14  I  tell  you,  this  man  went  down  to  his  house  justified  rather  than 
the  other :  for  every  one  that  exalteth  himself  shall  be  abased ;  and  he 
that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted.  —  Luke  xviii.  9-14. 

In  this  parable  the  instruction  is  again  the  same,  but  is  now 
presented  in  a  form  which  confines  it  to  spiritual  things. 
The  parable  is  expressly  spoken  "  unto  certain  which  trusted 
in  themselves  that  they  were  righteous,  and  despised  others." 
This  parable  is  aimed  against  self-trust ;  for  the  eternal  an- 
tagonism is  between  that  trust  in  self,  from  which  comes  the 
worship  of  self,  and  all  delusion ;  and  that  trust  in  the  Lord, 
which  looks  to  Him  as  the  source  of  all  truth  and  all  good 
and  all  strength,  and  finds  Him  a  never-failing  help.  To  the 
narrative  which  is  given  of  the  prayer  of  these  two  persons 
are  added  the  very  words  which  close  the  parable  of  those 
who  chose  for  themselves  the  chief  rooms :  "  For  every  one 
that  exalteth  himself  shall  be  abased,  and  he  that  humbleth 
himself  shall  be  exalted."  And  all  that  was  said  in  the  en- 
deavor to  explain  the  former  parable  is  equally  applicable  to 
this. 


316  TEE  RICH  YOUNG  MAN. 


THE  PARABLE  OP  THE  RICH  TOUNG  MAN. 

16  And  behold,  one  came  and  said  unto  him,  Good  Master,  what 
good  thing  shall  I  do  that  I  may  have  eternal  life  ? 

17  And  he  said  unto  him,  Why  callest  thou  me  good  ?  there  is  none 
good  but  one,  that  is,  God :  but  if  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  the 
commandments. 

18  He  saith  unto  him.  Which  ?  Jesus  said,  Thou  shalt  do  no  mur- 
der, Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,  Thou  shalt  not  steal,  Thou  shalt 
not  bear  false  witness, 

19  Honor  thy  father  and  thi/  mother :  and,  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself. 

20  The  young  man  saith  unto  him,  All  these  things  have  I  kept 
from  my  youth  up :  what  lack  I  yet  ? 

21  Jesus  said  unto  him.  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go  and  sell  that  thou 
hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven :  and 
come  and  follow  me. 

22  But  when  the  young  man  heard  that  saying,  he  went  away  sor- 
rowful :  for  he  had  great  possessions. 

23  Then  said  Jesus  unto  his  disciples,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  That 
a  rich  man  shall  hardly  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

24  And  again  I  say  unto  you.  It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through 
the  eye  of  a  needle,  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God. 

25  When  his  disciples  heard  it,  they  were  exceedingly  amazed, 
saying,  Who  then  can  be  saved  ? 

26  But  Jesus  beheld  them,  and  said  unto  them.  With  men  this  is 
impossible,  but  with  God  all  things  are  possible.  —  Matt.  xix.  16-26. 

The  parable  of  the  rich  young  man  coming  to  Christ  to 
learn  how  he  might  have  eternal  life,  is  repeated  in  the  three 
first  gospels  vrith  but  little  variation. 

He  came  to  Christ,  running,  and  kneeled  to  him.  There 
is  certainly  no  want  of  earnestness,  none  of  worship,  pre- 
sented here.  His  question  was,  What  shall  I  do,  to  inherit 
eternal  life  ?  From  this  it  may  be  inferred  that  he  thought 
eternal  life  was  to  be  won  by  doing  ;  by  doing  only ;  and  we 
shall  see  how  this  parable  tells  that  doing,  on  the  one  hand, 
is  indispensable,  but  on  the  other  hand,  not  effectual  unless  it 
springs  from  and  is  governed  and  qualified  by  a  right  and 


JESUS  LOVED  HIM.  317 

adequate  principle.  He  addressed  our  Lord  as  "  Good  Mas- 
ter." He  came  to  Him  as  to  a  man,  for  he  could  see  him 
only  as  a  good  man ;  perhaps  a  man  possessed  of  perfect 
goodness.  And  the  first  words  of  our  Lord's  answer  give 
the  key-note  of  the  whole  parable ;  they  teU  at  once,  the  pre- 
cise truth  which  such  persons  as  are  represented  by  this 
young  man  need  to  learn.  "  Why  callest  thou  me  good  ? 
None  are  good  but  one,  —  Grod."  Then  it  is  added,  "  But 
if  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  the  commandments."  Or, 
if  you  believe  that  God  alone  is  good,  and  that  all  good- 
ness is  His  goodness  given  to  those  who  will  receive  it, 
then,  if  you  with  that  belief  keep  the  commandments,  you 
will  enter  into  life.  And  to  the  question  which  command- 
ments should  be  kept,  our  Lord  recited  those  which  relate  to 
good  conduct,  or  a  good  external  life.  And  the  young  man 
answered,  "  All  these  things  have  I  kept  from  my  youth  up. 
What  lack  I  yet?"  The  meaning  of  all  this  is  obvious. 
Here  is  a  man  who  had  always  been  observant  of  God's  law ; 
who  had  carefully  avoided  sin ;  and  who  now  was  ready  to 
do  any  thing  more,  in  the  same  way,  which  should  be  de- 
manded of  him.  In  the  same  way ;  but  now  a  new  way  is 
to  be  prescribed  to  him. 

Then  it  is  said,  that  "  Jesus,  beholding  him,  loved  him." 
Here  is  proof,  if  we  needed  it,  that  Jesus  loves  obedience, 
and  loves  all  the  fruits  of  goodness  in  a  good  life.  But 
although  Jesus  loved  him,  or  rather  because  he  loved  him, 
there  comes  a  further  answer.  Jesus  loved  his  obedience  and 
his  goodness,  because  the  love  of  God  desires  and  is  gratified 
by  whatever  constitutes  the  happiness  of  man.  It  was  for 
this  reason  that  he  was  ready  to  tell  the  young  man  how  to 
be  happier ;  how  to  make  his  happiness  genuine,  permanent 
and  indestructible  ;  it  was  for  this  reason  that  he  told  the 
young  man  the  one  thing  he  needed  to  impart  this  character 
to  his  goodness  and  to  his  happiness :  "  If  thou  wilt  be  per- 
fect, go  and  sell  all  that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and 


318  WHO   THEN  CAN  BE  SAVED'} 

thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven."  In  these  words  the  one 
thing  was  given  to  the  young  man  which  he  had  asked  for ; 
the  one  thing  he  lacked.  And  yet  when  "  he  heard  that  say- 
ing, he  went  away  sorrowful :  for  he  had  great  possessions. 
Then  said  Jesus  to  his  disciples,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that 
a  rich  man  shall  hardly  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

But  what  were  the  great  possessions  to  which  the  young 
man  clung  at  the  cost  of  eternal  life,  and  which  our  Lord 
emphatically  declared  to  be  a  hindrance  to  heaven  ?  It  has 
generally,  perhaps  always,  been  supposed  that  they  were  the 
earthly  riches  which  the  young  man  possessed ;  and  the 
whole  parable  has  been  read  in  all  ages,  as  a  lesson  against  the 
dangerous  influence  of  wealth.  But  even  a  slight  examination 
of  these  texts  might  always  have  shown,  that  the  possessions 
which  the  young  man  was  required  to  sell,  could  not  be  com- 
mon earthly  riches.  This  is  apparent  from  the  effect  which 
this  answer  produced  upon  the  disciples.  "  When  his  dis- 
ciples heard  it,  they  were  exceedingly  amazed,  saying.  Who 
then  can  be  saved  ?  "  Or,  as  in  Mark,  "  the  disciples  were 
astonished  at  his  words,"  Or,  as  in  Luke,  "  And  they  that 
heard  it,  said.  Who  then  can  be  saved  ?  "  The  disciples  may 
have  supposed,  as  many  have  erroneously  supposed  in  all 
ages,  that  poverty  is  itself  a  merit,  and  a  title  to  or  prepara- 
tion for  heaven.  But  if  they  held  this  opinion,  why  should 
they  be  astonished  or  amazed  at  this  denunciation  of  riches  ? 
And  whether  they  held  this  opinion  or  not,  how  can  we 
account  for  the  question  which,  in  the  three  gospels  it  is  said 
they  asked,  "  Who  then  is  saved  ?  "  For  a  denunciation  of 
riches  is  an  approbation  of  poverty ;  a  declaration  that  riches 
closes  the  door  of  heaven  is  a  declaration  that  poverty  tends 
at  least  to  open  it ;  a  statement  that  obstructs  the  rich,  favors 
the  poor ;  that  is,  it  obstructs  the  entrance  into  heaven 
against  a  few  and  makes  it  easier  for  multitudes.  When  the 
question  was  asked,  "  Who  then  can  be  saved,  if  riches  are  a 
hindrance  to  salvation  ? "  the  immediate  answer  would  have 


TRUST  IN  MICHES.  319 

been,  "  the  poor,  the  vastly  more  numerous  poor ; "  if  earthly- 
riches  were  understood  as  those  thus  declared  to  be  a  hin- 
drance to  salvation. 

But  this  was  not  the  answer  which  our  Lord  gave.  It  is 
said  in  Mark,  "  But  Jesus  answereth  again,  and  saith  unto 
them,  Children,  how  hard  it  is  for  them  who  trust  in  riches, 
to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  And  again  at  this 
answer,  the  disciples  were  "  astonished  out  of  measure,  say- 
ing among  themselves.  Who  then  can  be  saved  ?  "  Nor  does 
this  answer  of  our  Lord  with  the  subsequent  astonishment 
of  the  disciples  present  a  less  inexplicable  difficulty ;  for,  not 
to  speak  of  those  who  may  have  wealth  and  not  trust  to  it, 
our  Lord's  answer  leaves  outside  of  his  declaration,  and  im- 
pliedly favored  by  it,  the  vastly  greater  multitudes  of  those 
who  could  not  trust  in  riches,  because  they  have  no  riches  to 
lead  them  into  this  danger  or  constitute  this  obstruction. 

The  narrative  discloses  the  love  of  this  young  man  for  his 
earthly  riches.  But  it  nowhere  intimates  that  he  trusted  in 
them.  He  loved  them ;  but  his  earnest  prayer  to  Christ 
shows  that  his  trust  was  not  wholly  in  them ;  it  was  in  his 
obedience  to  the  law ;  an  obedience  which  he  desired  to  know 
how  to  make  more  perfect,  that  his  trust  might  be  the  surer 
and  the  stronger.  Does  not  this  tell  us  what  constituted  the 
riches  or  possessions  in  which  he  trusted  and  which  closed 
against  him  the  entrance  into  heaven  ?  It  was  this  obe- 
dience ;  it  was  the  riches  that  he  had  painfully  amassed  by 
his  rigid  compliance  with  the  law,  from  his  youth  up ;  it  was 
the  wealth  of  external  goodness  ;  and  it  was  his  trust  in  this 
goodness,  which  was  his  great  peril  and  his  great  enemy. 
The  peril  and  the  enemy  fi-om  which  the  divine  mercy  of  our 
Lord  sought  to  save  him. 

We  can  now  understand  the  astonishment  of  the  disciples. 
It  is  precisely  the  same  astonishment  which  some  readers  of 
this  book  may  feel,  and  may  express  by  saying,  "  K  goodness, 
careful,  constant  and  consummate  goodness,  and  life-long  obe- 


820       SELL  ALL   THAT  THOU  HAST. 

dience  to  the  commands  of  God  cannot  be  trusted  to  bring 
salvation,  —  Who  then  can  be  saved  ?  " 

The  only  answer  is,  "  Sell  all  thou  hast,  and  give  unto  the 
poor,  and  come  and  follow  me."  We  sell  a  thing  when  we 
exchange  it  for  money ;  the  money  of  the  soul  is  truth ;  we 
obey  this  command  and  sell  this  wealth  of  confidence  in  our 
goodness,  when  we  exchange  all  this  self-glorification,  self- 
trust  and  self-worship,  for  the  truth  set  forth  at  the  beginning 
of  this  parable,  —  "  there  is  none  good  but  One,  —  God." 
For  this  truth  is  the  very  life  of  all  religion  and  the  inmost 
truth  of  all  religious  truth. 

To  be  saved  means  to  be  saved  from  sin ;  to  become  heav- 
enly; to  be  prepared  for  an  immortality  in  heaven,  where 
every  thought  of  every  mind  and  every  pulse  of  every  heart 
testify  that  all  good  and  all  happiness  are  from  God,  and  are 
His,  and  are  given  by  Him  to  men  to  be  accepted  and  appro- 
priated and  made  their  own,  as  His  gifts.  Good  received  and 
made  the  man's  own  without  the  acknowledgment  that  it  is 
God's  continual  gift,  and  with  the  belief  that  it  is  the  man's 
own  self-originated  good,  ceases  to  be  good  and  becomes  evil. 
Therefore,  the  acknowledgment  and  constant  perception  of 
the  infinite  love  thus  ever  giving  itself,  and  of  the  infinite 
wisdom  ever  guiding  and  leading  into  happiness,  —  these  are 
the  vital  essentials  of  heaven.  No  man  may  safely  relax  his 
efforts  to  learn  and  to  obey  the  divine  commands.  He  can- 
not labor  for  this  too  constantly  or  too  strenuously.  But  if 
he  believes  that  he  does  this  by  his  own  strength  and  excel- 
lence and  wisdom,  if  he  thus  regards  himself  as  the  suflficient 
source  of  his  own  goodness  and  his  own  salvation,  he  becomes 
a  God  unto  himself.  And  if  he  carried  this  habit  of  thought 
and  feeling  to  heaven  he  would  find  himself  isolated  there  and 
in  antagonism  with  the  whole  life  of  heaven.  Far,  far  would 
he  be  from  having  "  treasure  in  heaven."  And  it  is  for  this 
reason,  that  he  is  commanded  to  exchange  this  self-worship 
for  the  truth  that  God  alone  is  to  be  loved  and  worshipped. 


THE   WICKED  HUSBANDMEN.  321 

The  young  man  was  commanded  to  give  this  to  the  poor. 
We  obey  this  command  when  and  so  far  as  by  word  and  act 
we  teach  this  truth  to  them  who  know  it  not  and  are  therefore 
poor  indeed.  In  so  doing,  we  follow  Him  ;  follow  Him  step 
by  step  through  His  earthly  career.  For  His  humanity  was 
cleansed  from  its  inherited  infirmity  and  proclivity  to  evil,  as, 
by  repeated  temptation  and  conflict,  it  became  able  to  acknowl- 
edge the  Divine  within,  as  alone  good.  And  because  this 
work  was  done  absolutely  and  perfectly,  the  Human  became 
one  with  the  Divine,  and  became  itself  Divine. 

No  man  can  follow  Him  to  this  result.  But  he  may  follow 
Him  in  this  path ;  and  be  welcomed  by  Him  in  heaven,  for 
thither  this  path  leads. 

Woe  unto  us,  if  we  so  love  and  trust  in  the  self-accumu- 
lated riches  of  self-ascribed  goodness,  that  we  cannot  obey 
this  command ;  but  turn  away,  either  not  seeing  the  truth,  or 
seeing  it  only  to  be  sorrowful  because  it  requires  a  greater 
sacrihce  than  we  are  wilhng  to  make. 

THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  WICKED  HUSBANDMEN. 

33  Hear  another  parable ;  There  was  a  certain  householder,  which 
planted  a  vineyard,  and  hedged  it  round  about,  and  digged  a  wine- 
press in  it,  and  built  a  tower,  and  let  it  out  to  husbandmen,  and  went 
into  a  far  country. 

34  And  when  the  time  of  the  fruit  drew  near,  he  sent  his  servants 
to  the  husbandmen,  that  they  might  receive  the  fruits  of  it. 

35  And  the  husbandmen  took  his  servants,  and  beat  one,  and  killed 
another,  and  stoned  another. 

36  Again  he  sent  other  servants  more  than  the  first :  and  they  did 
unto  them  likewise. 

37  But  last  of  all,  he  sent  unto  them  his  son,  saying.  They  will 
reverence  my  son. 

38  But  when  the  husbandmen  saw  the  son,  they  said  among  them- 
selves. This  is  the  heir ;  come,  let  us  kill  him,  and  let  us  seize  on  his 
inheritance. 

39  And  they  caught  him,  and  cast  him  out  of  the  vineyard,  and 

slew  him. 

21 


322  THE  LESSONS   OF  HUMILITY. 

40  Wlien  the  lord  therefore  of  the  vineyard  cometh,  what  will 
he  do  unto  those  husbandmen? 

41  They  say  unto  him,  He  will  miserably  destroy  those  wicked 
men,  and  will  let  out  his  vineyard  unto  other  husbandmen,  which  shall 
render  him  the  fruits  in  their  seasons. 

42  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  Did  ye  never  read  in  the  scriptures.  The 
stone  which  the  builders  rejected,  the  same  is  become  the  head  of  the 
corner :  this  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes  1 

43  Therefore  say  I  unto  you.  The  kingdom  of  God  shall  be  taken 
from  you,  and  given  to  a  nation  bringing  forth  the  fruits  thereof. 

44  And  whosoever  shall  fall  on  this  stone,  shall  be  broken :  but  on 
whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  will  grind  him  to  powder.  —  Matt.  xxi. 
81-44. 

The  parables  we  have  last  considered  teach  humility ;  and 
in  this  parable  this  lesson  is  enforced.  For  we  have  here,  if 
we  read  this  parable  in  its  spiritual  sense,  the  pride  in  self  and 
trust  in  self,  which  always  reject  the  mercies  that  would 
teach  self-abasement  before  Him  who  alone  is  good,  and  who 
ever  seeks  to  lead  us  to  goodness  ;  we  have  here  a  vivid  pic- 
ture of  this  pride  carried  to  its  final  consummation,  and  of  the 
"  miserable  destruction  "  which  awaits  it. 

The  parable  of  the  rich  young  man  teaches  us  that  there 
is  a  goodness  in  which  we  cannot  safely  trust.  What  is  the 
goodness  in  which  we  can  trust  ?  The  whole  Bible  seeks  to 
answer  this  question ;  it  seeks  to  point  out  the  paths  of  gen- 
uine goodness ;  and  for  this  purpose  the  Word  of  God  was 
uttered.  Let  us  see  how  this  instruction  is  given  in  the  par- 
able of  the  wicked  husbandmen.  This  also  is  one  of  the  few 
parables  which  is  related  in  all  the  three  first  gospels. 

God  is  represented  as  a  householder  ;  for  the  whole  effort 
of  His  providence  is  to  gather  all  in  the  universe  into  one 
household,  which  shall  look  to  Him  not  only  as  Lord  and 
Master,  but  as  Father. 

To  this  end  he  "  planted  a  vineyard ; "  literally  a  place,  iu 
which  grapes  might  grow  and  ripen  and  wine  be  made  of 
them ;  spiritually,  a  state,  in  which  that  spiritual  truth  repre- 


TEE  WINE-FRESS  IN  THE  VINEYARD.         323 

sented  by  wine,  might  be  planted  in  the  mind,  and  its  fruits 
ripen  there,  and  the  water  of  natural  truth  might  be  con- 
verted into  the  wine  of  spiritual  truth,  as  the  dew  and  the 
rain  are  in  the  grape,  and  as  was  done  —  the  same  thing  but 
by  miraculous  means  —  at  the  marriage  in  Cana  of  Galilee. 
He  hedged  it  round  about  with  the  defining  truths  which  tell 
men  plainly  when  they  are  doing  His  will  and  when  they  are 
not.  He  digged  a  wine-press  in  it  and  built  a  tower.  The 
vineyard  itself  is  planted  by  the  literal,  external  word ;  for 
evil  must  be  renounced  and  good  cultivated  in  the  external 
life,  in  obedience  to  the  literal  laws  of  God,  or  the  foundation 
of  all  goodness  is  wanting,  and  the  indispensable  condition  of 
higher  goodness  is  absent.  But  in  this  literal  sense  lies  con- 
cealed the  spiritual  sense  as  a  wine-press  digged  therein  ;  and 
when  the  ripened  grapes  of  literal  obedience  are  brought  to 
this  sense,  their  prepared  juices  are  extracted ;  out  of  mere 
obedience  higher  motives  and  principles  come  forth,  and  the 
wine  is  ready  to  make  glad  the  heart  of  man. 

The  vineyard  thus  planted  and  prepared  is  let  out  to  hus- 
bandmen, and  He  who  planted  it  goes  into  a  far  country.  It 
is  not  given  to  the  husbandmen ;  it  is  put  into  their  possession, 
on  condition  that  they  hold  it  as  His  and  render  to  Him  the 
fruits  of  it ;  and  then  He  goes,  or  seems  to  go,  afar  ;  so  far, 
that  we  are  unconscious  of  His  presence,  and  of  His  influence, 
and  are  in  freedom,  to  think  and  feel  and  act  and  live,  from 
our  own  selfhood.  And  what  has  already  been  said  of  the 
necessity  and  purpose  of  human  freedom  and  of  the  means  by 
which  it  is  preserved,  will  shov/  that  the  planting  of  the  vine- 
yard was  no  more  an  act  of  divine  mercy  than  the  leaving 
those  for  whom  it  is  planted  to  use  it  in  their  own  way  and 
in  their  own  freedom. 

It  should  now  be  remarked  that  the  spiritual  sense  of  this 
parable,  as  of  others,  may  be  considered  in  what  we  would 
call  a  general  way,  and  also  in  a  specific  way  ;  or,  in  its  re- 
lation to  a  nation  or  a  church,  and  also  in  its  relation  to 
individual  men. 


824        TEE  UNITY  OF  TEE  DIVINE  REASON. 

In  the  first,  or  general  way,  this  parable  applied  to  the 
Jewish  nation  or  church  ;  and  this  meaning  was  too  obvious 
not  to  be  seen  by  those  to  whom  it  was  spoken.  The  chief 
priests  and  Pharisees,  it  is  said,  "  perceived  that  he  had  spoken 
this  parable  against  them." 

In  this  general  application  of  the  spiritual  sense,  the  vine- 
yard was  the  Israelitish  church,  hedged  round  about  and  pro- 
vided with  its  wine-press  and  its  tower.  Its  founder  left  the 
Jews  to  their  own  freedom ;  and  in  their  abuse  of  it  they 
slew  or  rejected  and  disregarded  His  servants  the  prophets, 
and  at  last  crucified  His  son. 

In  the  specific  sense,  all  this  is  true,  even  to  its  minutest 
details,  of  very  many  individuals  in  that  church,  and  of 
very  many  in  the  Christian  Church  ;  and  will  always  be  true, 
while  evil  exists  and  is  strong  upon  the  earth. 

The  general  cause  of  this  is  the  unity  of  the  divine  reason, 
order,  and  providence.  For  from  this  comes  the  general  law, 
that  wholes  are  made  of  parts,  each  of  which  is  like  unto  the 
whole.  Thus,  God,  who  is  in  all  being,  is  Himself  a  Divine 
Man ;  while  the  last  and  lowest  of  rational  and  immortal 
creatures  is  also  a  man ;  and  between  these  extremes,  all 
orderly  and  organized  collections  or  associations  of  men,  as 
every  church  while  it  remains  unperverted,  and  every  society 
of  angels,  and  every  society  formed  of  societies,  and  every 
heaven,  and  the  whole  heaven,  is,  in  the  sight  of  God,  as 
a  man.  And  where  the  law  does  not  seem  to  apply,  as  in 
the  limbs  and  members  of  the  human  body,  a  human  princi- 
ple prevails  in  the  life  which  forms  and  fills  them,  and  seeks 
to  make  them  orderly  and  healthy  members  of  a  man. 

The  Jewish  nation,  because  composed  of  Jews,  had,  as  its 
national  character,  a  Jewish  character.  All  the  elements 
which  together  composed  this  character,  were  elements  which 
lived  and  acted  in  the  individuals  which  composed  the  na- 
tion ;  in  some  more  and  in  some  less.  The  national  character 
was  the  common  resultant,  or  the  general  effect  and  expres- 


FOB  ALL  IS  THIS  VINETABD  PLANTED.       325 

sion  of  all  the  characters  of  all  the  Jews.  Hence,  whatever 
is  true  of  the  nation  was  the  effect  of,  and  may  be  regarded 
as  caused  by,  that  character  which  belonged  to  the  whole 
nation  because  it  prevailed  in  the  individual  members. 

Now  the  essential  and  distinctive  character  of  the  Jewish 
nation  was  naturalness ;  or,  if  we  may  make  such  a  word, 
eitemalness.  Whatever  might  be  true  of  some  of  its  mem- 
bers,— as  a  nation,  or  people,  all  its  thoughts,  beliefs,  motives 
and  affections,  were,  to  the  last  degree  external,  or  sensuous, 
or  merely  natural,  or,  to  use  another  phrase  which  all  these 
mean,  they  were  devoid  of  spiritual  life. 

In  all  human  beings  a  Jewish  nature  exists,  because  a 
Jewish  nature  is  only  himian  nature  when  not  elevated  above 
mere  naturalness.  And  therefore  this  parable  has  its  specific 
application  to  every  human  being. 

For  all  of  us  this  vineyard  is  planted ;  and  even  for  those 
to  whom  religious  truth  has  been  given  by  other  means  than 
the  Bible. 

For  all  men  this  vineyard  has  been  prepared  by  Him  who 
would  gather  all  into  His  household.  For  all  it  has  been 
hedged  roimd,  because  all  religious  truth  has  defined  religious 
duty,  and  prohibited  sin.  For  all  it  has  had  its  wine-press 
and  its  tower,  for  all  religious  truth,  however  ultimated,  comes 
down  without  break  or  interruption  from  its  source,  and  all 
tends  to  lead  the  minds  and  souls  of  men  upwards  to  its 
source.  To  the  freedom  and  responsibility  of  all  men  is 
religious  truth  given.  And  the  universal  end  of  aU  truth  is 
that  we  render  to  the  giver  the  fruits  thereof. 

The  fruits  of  truth  are  good  thoughts,  good  affections,  good 
acts,  and  good  lives.  We  render  them  to  Him  who  gives 
them,  when  we  acknowledge  that  they  are  His  gifts ;  when 
we  acknowledge  with  heart  and  soul  and  all  our  understand- 
ing, that  He  alone  is  of  Himself  good ;  that  all  goodness  is 
from  Him,  and  His  perpetual  gift  to  all  who  are  willing  to 
receive  it. 


826        ESSENTIAL  AND   CENTRAL  FALSITY. 

It  is  the  universal  end  of  His  providence,  that  we  should 
thus  render  to  Him  the  fruits  of  His  vineyard,  because  truth 
requires  this,  because  justice  requires  this,  because  our  happi- 
ness requires  it.  By  that  acknowledgment  the  heavens  are 
made  one ;  one  home,  one  house,  of  which  He  is  the  house- 
holder. By  the  perception  and  acknowledgment  of  this  truth 
the  eyes  of  men  and  angels  are  opened  to  all  truth,  because 
this  truth  is  the  most  essential  and  central  of  all  truths.  By 
this  acknowledgment  the  hearts  of  men  and  angels  are  opened 
to  all  good,  because  it  is  essential  and  central  justice ;  and 
from  it  flow  forth  all  good  affections  and  by  it  all  are  vital- 
ized ;  and  men  and  angels  are  gradually  brought  into  the 
ability  to  love  the  Lord  our  God  with  all  the  heart,  and  with 
all  the  understanding,  and  with  all  the  soul,  and  with  all  the 
strength,  and  thus  to  obey  that  commandment  which  is  itself 
the  gift  of  infinite  love,  given  as  the  foundation  and  the 
means  of  infinite  happiness. 

To  deny  that  all  truth  and  all  good  come  to  us  from  their 
only  source,  is  to  assert  and  incorporate  with  our  lives,  that 
essential  and  central  falsity  from  which  all  falsehood  springs. 
It  is  to  do  and  to  love  that  injustice  which  cannot  but  gradu- 
ally eradicate  all  sense  of  justice  and  destroy  all  possibility 
of  living  in  the  family  of  God.  It  is  to  destroy  the  possi- 
bility of  ever  cultivating  in  the  heart  affections  which  are 
genuinely  good,  and  of  ever  possessing  or  knowing  a  happi- 
ness which  can  be  real  and  permanent. 

Therefore  the  whole  providence  of  God  (because  this  means 
only  the  perpetual  action  of  a  perfect  love  guided  by  a  perfect 
wisdom)  aims  to  give  to  men  and  to  every  man,  this  great 
truth  which  may  lead  to  all  good  and  all  happiness ;  and  to 
prevent  their  taking  to  themselves  this  great  evil  and  un- 
happiness,  this  fountain  of  all  falsity,  all  evU,  and  all 
wretchedness. 

For  this  end  he  sends  to  men  many  servants,  and  all  His 
servants  work  to  this  end,  each  in  his  own  way.     And  all 


ALL   TRUTH  IS  HIS   SERVANT.  327 

truths  are  his  servants.  They  most  and  chief  which  are  the 
truths  of  His  Word ;  for  all  these  testify,  with  one  voice,  but 
with  a  voice  so  modulated  and  so  varied  in  its  utterance  that 
it  may  reach  every  heart,  in  every  state. 

Next,  are  all  religious  truths  his  servants,  for  all,  of  every 
name  and  kind,  add  their  testimony  that  God  is  our  Father, 
and  the  only  source  and  giver  of  all  goodness  ;  and  when 
truths  stiU  calling  themselves  religious  truths  fail  in  this 
testimony,  it  is  the  sign  and  proof  that  they  are  falsified,  and 
bring  only  a  message  and  invitation  from  the  realms  of  falsity 
and  woe. 

And  then  all  truths  are  his  servants,  because  aU  truth  joins 
in  this  one  testimony.  All  scientific  truths,  all  which  are 
suggested  to  an  opened  mind  by  all  the  works  of  God,  all 
which  the  simplest  child  may  catch  as  he  looks  on  the  rose, 
the  cloud,  and  all  the  beauty  of  earth,  and  tastes  its  blessings, 
all  that  the  highest  intellect  can  learn  as  it  hears  the  story 
of  the  stars  and  begins  to  comprehend  the  laws  and  forces 
of  the  universe,  and  catches  glimpse  after  glimpse  at  the 
mysteries  involved  in  every  thing  that  lives  and  every  thing 
that  is,  —  all  of  these  scattered  rays  point  upwards,  all  con- 
verge, all  lead  to  one  centre,  God ;  and  from  this  centre  all 
their  light  has  come,  bringing  with  it  love  and  good. 

These  are  all  the  servants  of  God ;  but  all  work  together, 
not  only  for  one  end,  but  in  obedience  to  one  law,  without 
which  that  end  cannot  be  attained.  The  end  is  that  man  may 
freely  and  of  himself,  choose  and  cultivate  the  truth  and  the 
good  thus  offered  to  his  acceptance ;  and,  that  this  freedom 
should  be  eternally  protected  and  preserved. 

And  therefore  there  never  was,  and  there  never  can  be, 
until  perfect  love  shall  fail  and  perfect  wisdom  err,  a  revela- 
tion, a  doctrine  or  a  truth,  religious  or  scientific,  which  could 
compel  the  unwilling  to  believe  in  God.  All  truths  as  far  as 
they  can,  persuade,  all  as  far  as  they  can,  induce,  men  to 
compel  themselves ;  to  resist  with  all  their  might  the  pride 


328     HOW  MEN  TREAT  THE  SERVANTS  OF  GOD. 

and  perversity  and  self-confidence  which  deny  God.  This 
work  of  self-compulsion  is  the  highest  effort  of  human  freedom  ; 
but  none  of  the  servants  of  God  do  this  work  of  compulsion 
for  man. 

Therefore  there  have  always  been,  are  now,  and  it  may  be 
feared  always  will  be,  men  who  love  themselves  too  well  to 
believe  in  God ;  who  trust  in  themselves  too  entirely  to  ask 
for  or  accept  His  guidance ;  who  gather  the  fruits  of  His 
vineyard,  and  call  them  all  their  own,  their  own  work,  their 
own  wisdom,  their  own  goodness. 

And  when  the  servants  of  God  come  to  them  to  bring  the 
message  of  truth  and  justice  and  love,  they  take  them,  but  it 
is  only  to  beat  one  and  kill  another  and  stone  another  ;  and 
when  other  servants  come  again  and  yet  again,  more  than  the 
first,  —  for  the  mercy  of  God  cannot  weary, —  unto  them 
they  do  likewise. 

It  is  not  probable  that  these  pages  will  fall  under  the  eye 
of  those  who  deny  the  existence  or  goodness  or  provi- 
dence of  God.  And  it  is  perhaps  impossible  that  any  such 
reader,  if  he  opens  this  book,  can  read  it  so  far  as  to  know 
what  I  am  now  saying.  They  who  go  with  me  will  be  per- 
sons who  believe  in  God,  and  who  worship  him  ;  and  to  them 
it  may  seem  as  if  nothing  of  all  this  was  applicable  to  them. 
But  it  is  a  solemn,  perhaps  a  fearful,  truth,  that  there  is  no 
one  to  whom  it  is  not,  in  some  form  and  in  some  degree,  ap- 
plicable. For  even  where  this  acknowledgment  of  God  as 
the  giver  of  all  good  may  be  earnest  and  sincere  and  not  only 
general  but  prevailing  in  the  mind,  it  is  certain  that  in  every 
particular  in  which  this  acknowledgment  fails,  we  are  among 
those  who  wound  his  servants  if  we  do  not  slay  them, 
and  turn  away  from  them  if  we  do  not  deliberately  cast 
them  out  of  the  vineyard ;  and  we  are  among  those  who 
do  not  render  to  him  the  fruits  of  His  vineyard.  Who  is 
there  who  is  never  proud  of  some  good  thing  which  he 
has  done,  never  vain  of  it,  never  desirous  that  it  should 


A  SOLEMN,  PERHAPS  FEARFUL,  THOUGHT.    329 

be  known  as  his,  never,  in  his  secret  thought,  secret  perhaps 
even  to  himself,  desirous  that  it  should  be  so  known  that  he 
may  have  all  the  credit  of  it  ?  Who  is  there,  who  knows  or 
fears  that  his  or  her  goodness  has  been  denied,  and  some  im- 
putation cast  upon  it,  or  that  his  influence  or  authority  are 
resisted  and  weakened,  and  his  position  among  men  lowered, 
and  his  merits  clouded,  or,  in  simpler  words,  that  he  is  not 
thought  so  well  of  as  he  deserves,  —  who  can  know  this  with- 
out something  more  than  a  sorrow  that  falsities  should  di- 
minish his  usefulness ;  without  something  of  the  anger  and 
the  grief  which  resent  personal  wrong.  And  is  it  not  cer- 
tain that  so  far  as  there  is  this  anger  and  this  grief,  there  is  a 
disposition  to  gather  the  fruits  of  His  vineyard  and  mark 
them  with  our  own  name  ?  There  are  servants  of  his,  ready 
enough  to  tell  us  to  beware,  to  call  on  us  to  render  to  him 
the  fruits  of  his  vineyard,  with  the  calm  certainty  that  they 
will  be  safe  in  his  hands ;  but  do  we  then  listen  to  his  ser- 
vants ? 

I  have  called  this  a  solemn  thought,  and  perhaps  it  is  a 
fearful  one.  And  it  would  be  a  most  fearful  one,  were  it  not 
for  the  comfort  which  others  of  his  servants  stand  ready  to 
offer. 

They  tell  us,  that  we  see  in  this  only  our  own  inherited 
nature ;  only  our  human  nature ;  only  that  nature,  which, 
from  the  first  moment  of  our  existence.  He  has  been  endeavor- 
ing to  lift  up,  to  cleanse,  to  regenerate.  They  tell  us,  that 
we  have  been  permitted  to  feel  thus,  that  we  may  become 
conscious  of  our  true  nature,  and  of  its  proclivity  to  self  and 
evil,  and  of  the  necessity  of  watchfulness  over  it,  and  of  re- 
sistance to  it. 

And  then  they  tell  us,  that  if  we  mourn  this  weakness  and 
error,  the  good  work  has  begun ;  that  this  work  will  be  ad- 
vanced by  every  resistance  to  this  or  any  other  tendency  to 
evil.  And  while  we  may  not  hope,  for  none  may  hope,  in 
this  life  to  put  evil  so  far  away  that  it  shall  not  continually 


330  RESISTANCE   TO  EVIL. 

come  up  and  call  on  us  to  meet  and  resist  it,  we  may  hope 
that  we  can  give,  in  our  own  minds,  by  using  His  help,  the 
prevalence  to  good ;  to  give  to  Him  who  planted  the  vineyard, 
some  at  least,  of  the  best  fruits  thereof- 
Let  us  not  say  that  we  have  done  enough  to  make  good 
the  stronger  on  the  whole,  and  have  thus  crossed  the  line 
between  good  and  evil,  and  will  be  contented  there,  leaving 
the  rest  of  the  work  to  be  done  hereafter ;  for  this  very  con- 
tentment would  place  us  at  once  on  the  side  of  evil  and  turn 
our  steps  downward.  But  let  us  remember  the  require- 
ment, of  constant,  unremitting  resistance  against  our  own 
evils ;  and  when  we  remember  this  requirement,  we  may 
remember  that  after  we  have  done  with  time,  an  eternity  will 
open  in  which  the  combat  may  be  ended,  and  we  may  share 
in  the  gladness  with  which  all  in  heaven  ascribe  the  victory 
to  Him,  and  rest  in  peace  upon  His  everlasting  arm. 

Constant,  unremitting  resistance!  This  is  the  require- 
ment ;  this  the  burden  which  rests  upon  us.  But  this  re- 
quirement is  imposed  by,  this  burden  is  permitted  by,  a  love 
which  also  gives  to  us  constant,  unremitting  assistance.  And 
while  this  assistance  is  rendered  by  almighty  power,  this 
power  is  but  the  instrument  of  a  love  and  wisdom  which  do 
not  permit  it  to  be  more  than  assistance,  and  do  not  permit  it 
to  avail  without  our  co-operation.  But  then  this  love  and 
wisdom,  both  perfect,  are  always  employed  in  rendering  this 
assistance  effectual  with  our  co-operation. 

To  this  end  servant  after  servant  is  sent,  instrument  after 
instrument  is  employed.  And  last  of  all,  he  sends  unto  men 
his  Son.  He  sends  his  Son  by  assuming  that  humanity  which 
is  His  child ;  by  becoming  God  with  us.  "  They  will  rev- 
erence my  son."  From  the  coming  of  the  Son  through  all 
ages,  and  to  every  mind  to  which  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  presented,  the  final,  the  decisive  test  is  applied.  "  They 
will  reverence  my  Son."  Do  they  reverence  the  Son  ? 
There  are  those  who  do,  and  there  are  those  who  do  not. 


WHO   GO   UPWABDS.  331 

They  who  do,  go  upwards,  and  they  who  do  not,  go  downwards. 
Nothing  more  can  be  done.  The  last  and  most  effectual  means, 
means  which  must  be  effectual  if  any  can  be,  are  employed. 
But  even  this  means,  even  this  coming  of  God  among  men, 
walking  with  them  as  the  impersonation  of  divine  love  and 
doing  the  works  of  this  love,  and  speaking  —  as  man  never 
spake  —  the  words  of  divine  wisdom,  even  this  almighty  in- 
strument of  salvation  is  so  veiled  and  tempered,  that  human 
freedom  —  without  which  there  can  be  no  salvation  —  is  stUl 
preserved. 

They  whose  love  of  self  cannot  be  overcome ;  they  in 
whom  the  love  of  self  has  caused  a  contentment  with  self  and 
a  pride  in  self  and  a  trust  in  self,  which  clothe  the  under- 
standing as  with  impenetrable  and  indurated  darkness,  they 
may  find  in  this  infinite  means  of  salvation,  the  means  of 
perdition.  They  may  say  —  they  do  say  —  "  This  is  the  heir, 
come,  let  us  kill  him,  and  the  inheritance  shall  be  ours." 
They  may  say,  and  some  do  say,  here  is  perfect  goodness,  here 
is  one  who  walks  among  men  in  sinless  purity,  with  a  love 
ready  to  forgive,  ready  to  bless,  asking  only  that  it  may  bless ; 
patient  of  pain,  and  as  patient  of  injury ;  enduring  all 
things,  sacrificing  all  things,  and  at  last  welcoming  death  and 
sacrificing  self.  And  he  too  is  a  man,  only  a  man,  as  much 
a  man  as  we  are ;  and  we  are  as  much  a  god  as  he  is.  What 
need  of  any  other  god  than  man?  how  can  there  be  more 
a  god  than  this  man?  What  higher  or  better  nature  can 
there  be  than  his  nature  ?  and  it  is  our  nature.  All  that  he 
was  by  birth  and  inheritance  we  are,  and  all  that  he  became 
we  may  become,  and  more  and  better  now  as  human  na- 
ture has  ripened  with  the  flow  of  time.  Thus  they  kill  Ilim, 
and  seize  on  His  inheritance.  Thus  the  infinite  self-sacrifice 
of  Jesus  Christ  only  intensifies  their  self-worship,  and  makes 
it  ineradicable. 

The  incarnation  of  Jehovah  in  Jesus  Christ  is  the  mystery 
of  mysteries.      Our  Lord  asserts  that  He  is  one  with   the 


332  A  PBOCESS   OF  SEPARATION. 

Father.  The  record  of  His  birthi  declares  decisively  to  all 
who  believe  the  Gospels,  that  He  is  not  as  other  men.  But 
the  instruction  on  this  subject  in  all  the  Gospels,  taken  as  a 
whole,  is  tempered  with  infinite  mercy.  There  stands  the 
Truth ;  shining  in  its  own  glory  for  them  who  open  their 
eyes  that  they  may  see  it.  And  to  them  who  can  see  this  truth 
only  dimly,  if  they  begin  with  any  perception  of  it,  its  light 
will  grow  into  the  fulness  of  day,  here  or  hereafter. 

There  seems  to  be  a  process  of  separation  going  on  among 
those  who  agree  in  asserting  that  Jesus  Christ  is  not  God. 
A  line  is  being  drawn ;  and  I  suppose  it  is  drawn  between 
those  who  hold  that  in  Christianity  and  in  Jesus  Christ  there 
is  an  element  of  the  supernatural,  and  those  who  deny  this. 
Whether  this  be  so,  I  may  have  little  right  to  express  an 
opinion.  But  it  seems  to  me,  that  all  who  hold,  reverently 
and  honestly,  the  existence  and  reality  of  this  supernatural 
element,  stand  on  one  side  of  this  line.  They  must  hold 
that  He  was  more  than  they  are  or  can  become  ;  more  than 
any  one  who  has  only  our  common  nature  and  is  only  a  man 
as  we  are,  ever  was  or  can  be.  And  they  who  hold  this  are 
on  the  same  side  of  the  dividing  line  on  which  they  stand 
who  receive  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Church.  They  have 
begun  to  see  this  infinite  Truth,  which,  because  it  is  infinite, 
none  can  see  with  perfect  clearness  in  its  whole  extent.  But 
they  have  begun  to  see  it ;  their  faces  are  turned  towards  it ; 
and  if  they  hold  the  truth  they  see,  humbly,  devoutly  and 
firmly,  their  sight  will  grow  clearer.  Among  those  who 
stand  on  this  side  of  the  line,  there  will  be  degrees  and  varie- 
ties in  their  perception ;  there  will  be  differences  of  opinion ; 
but  these  differences  need  not  be  antagonisms. 

But  of  those  who  stand  on  the  other  side  of  that  line ;  of 
them  who  stand  there,  not  from  imperfect  knowledge,  or  the 
effect  of  education,  or  the  seductions  of  other  minds,  —  but 
because  in  their  own  love  of  self  and  their  pride  in  self,  so 
far  as  they  acknowledge  the  goodness  of  the  Lord  they  use 


OUR   OPPOSITION  TO   GOOD.  333 

it  only  as  evidence  of  their  own,  and  that  they  may  so  use  it, 
deny  that  there  was  any  thing  in  His  nature  higher  than  their 
own,  —  of  them  what  can  I  say?  Whatever  may  be  my 
hope  that  they  will  learn  their  error  before  it  is  too  late, — 
what  can  I  say,  but  that  they  seem  to  me  to  hold  now  a  fatal 
falsity ;  a  falsity  that  springs  from  the  sources  of  all  error  and 
aU  evil,  the  love  of  self  and  pride  in  self ;  a  falsity  that  must 
be  to  every  one  who  thus  rejects  the  Gospels  and  clings  to 
this  falsity,  the  parent  of  aU  falsity. 

They  do  not  see  that  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  on  earth  was 
one  of  conflict.  They  do  not  see  that  His  suffering.  His  woe, 
His  agony  and  bloody  sweat,  sprang  from  the  infinite  and 
unimaginable  conflict  between  all  the  forces  and  qualities  and 
elements  of  the  maternal  humanity,  whence  He  derived  a 
human  nature  like  their  own,  —  and  the  divine  life  within. 
They  do  not  see  that  He  was  strong  only  with  the  strength  of 
Grod,  while  the  end  of  all  His  suffering  was,  that  He  might 
ascend  to  his  Father,  that  He  might  bring  His  humanity  into 
perfect  unity  with  God,  that  He  might  bear  upwards  towards 
perfect  goodness,  all  who  can  see  in  Him  God  with  us,  and 
reverence  and  worship  and  love  Him  so. 

They  do  not  see  that  what  they  have  by  birth  and  nature 
is  only  that  nature  which,  by  its  opposition  to  good,  caused  the 
agonies  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  that  the  power  which  overcame 
this  opposition  was  the  divine  within  him,  which  would  glad- 
ly do  a  similar  work  for  us,  by  helping  us  in  our  resistance  to 
evil  and  our  sacrifice  of  self  and  our  recognition  of  a  life 
higher  than  our  own.  And  they  by  their  self-worship,  deny, 
reject,  resist,  and  make  impossible,  this  divine  assistance. 

They  have  killed  him,  that  the  inheritance  may  be  theirs., 
And  only  by  His  life  in  them  could  they  enter  upon  this  in- 
heritance ;  and  they  have  sought  it  by  means  which  make  it 
impossible  that  it  should  be  theirs. 


834  TEE  SACRAMENTS. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

OF  THE   SACRAMENT  OF  BAPTISM. 

The  actions  of  our  Lord  were  as  significant,  as  full  of  in- 
finite meaning,  as  his  words.  All  of  them  might  be  regarded 
as  parables  of  action,  and  some  of  them  are  so  obviously 
symbolic,  that  their  significance  has  never  been  denied,  what- 
ever difierence  of  opinion  may  have  existed  as  to  the  meaning 
which  should  be  drawn  from  them  or  the  obligation  they 
imposed. 

Of  these,  by  far  the  most  important,  —  if  we  may  so  speak 
where  all  are  of  infinite  moment,  —  are  those  upon  which 
two  Sacraments  are  founded. 

A  Sacrament  may  be  defined  as  a  holy  rite  or  ceremony. 
Why  they  are  holy,  and  in  what  their  holiness  consists,  may 
be  better  seen  after  some  consideration  of  the  two  rites  which 
bear  this  name  in  the  New  Church.  One  of  these  is  Baptism. 
The  other  is  the  Lord's  Supper. 

The  acts  and  words  of  John  are  recorded  in  all  the  four 
gospels,  with  some  diversity,  but  no  contradiction.  They  all 
teach  us,  that  John  the  Baptist  was  the  "  forerunner  "  of  our 
Lord.  His  ministration  preceded  and  prepared  for  that  of  our 
Lord.  This  consisted  in  "preaching  in  the  wilderness  of 
Judea,  and  saying  Repent  ye,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
at  hand  ; "  and  in  baptizing  the  multitudes  who  came  to  Him 
for  that  purpose.  "  Then  cometh  Jesus  from  Galilee  to  Jordan 
unto  John  to  be  baptized  of  him.  But  John  forbade  him,  say- 
ing, I  have  need  to  be  baptized  of  thee,  and  comest  thou  to 
me  ?     And  Jesus  answering  said  unto  him,  Suffer  it  to  be  so 


BAPTISM.  335 

now ;  for  thus  it  becometh  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness.  Then 
he  suffered  him.  And  Jesus,  when  he  was  baptized,  went  up 
straightway  out  of  the  water.  And,  lo,  the  heavens  were 
opened  unto  him,  and  he  saw  the  Spirit  of  God  descending 
like  a  dove,  and  lighting  upon  him.  And  lo,  a  voice  from 
heaven,  saying,  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well 
pleased." 

After  that,  Jesus  said  many  things  about  baptism.  Among 
them  are  "  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved." 
And  His  final  command  to  His  disciples,  "  Go  ye  therefore 
and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

These  and  other  texts  afford  a  full  explanation  of,  and 
a  sufficient  reason  for,  the  nearly  universal  adoption  by  Chris- 
tians, in  all  ages  and  nations,  of  baptism  as  an  introductory 
rite,  which  places  the  person  baptized  within  the  Christian 
Church.  But,  taken  by  themselves,  they  give  but  little  ex- 
planation of  the  meaning  of  the  rite,  or  of  its  effect. 

So  too  they  account  for  the  nearly  universal  acknowledg 
ment  of  its  holiness.  And  some  of  them  indicate  with  entire 
distinctness,  that  it  has  a  meaning  and  an  efficacy  which  do 
not  appear  externally.  As  where  John  says,  "  I  indeed  bap- 
tize you  with  water,  —  he  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  with  fire."  And  this  declaration  is  repeated,  with 
some  variation  of  form,  in  all  four  of  the  Gospels.  So  our 
Lord  said,  "  I  have  a  baptism  to  be  baptized  with,  and  how  am 
I  straitened  until  it  is  accomplished."  And,  to  his  disciples, 
"  Can  ye  be  baptized  with  the  baptism  that  I  am  baptized 
with  ? "  So  also,  "  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall 
be  saved."  And  "  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  the 
spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  Such 
passages  have  caused  most  persons  who  thought  of  them, 
to  regard  Baptism  as  a  rite  of  very  great  and  very  holy  sig- 
nificance. But  these  texts  have  not  told  what  this  signifi- 
cance was.     Some  efforts  have  been  made  to  explain  this; 


336  THE   WASHING   OF  BAPTISM. 

and  some  controversies  have  arisen  about  these  explanations. 
But,  in  general,  the  subject  has  rested  in  the  minds  of  thought- 
ful and  reverent  Christians,  as  a  mystery,  of  which  no  defi- 
nite solution  could  be  given. 

Nor  could  this  solution  be  given  excepting  by  the  science 
of  correspondence ;  and  for  the  purpose  of  applying  this 
science  to  this  question,  we  must  first  inquire  what  Baptism 
is  in  the  merely  natural  or  external  sense  of  the  word. 
"  Baptize  "  is  but  the  English  form  of  the  Greek  verb  "  Bap- 
tiso."  What  then  did  the  Greek  word  mean  ?  or,  what  was 
the  literal  meaning  of  the  word  when  it  was  written  or 
spoken  by  our  Lord  and  His  disciples  ? 

The  primary  meaning  of  the  Greek  word  was,  to  wash  by 
immersing  in  water ;  or,  simply,  to  wash.  Our  word  Baptism 
is  a  technical  religious  word,  used  only  as  such  a  woi-d.  But 
when  our  Lord  and  His  disciples  used  it,  they  used  a  word  of 
common  and  known  meaning ;  and  we  shall  have  what  they 
said,  very  much  as  they  said  it,  if  we  substitute  the  word 
"  wash  "  for  the  word  "  baptize."  Then  we  should  read,  "  I 
indeed  come  to  wash  you  with  water,  —  he  shall  wash  you 
with  the  Holy  Spirit  and  with  fire."  "  He  that  believeth  and 
is  washed  shall  be  saved,"  and  so  in  other  passages. 

When  these  texts  are  thus  read,  they  come  at  once  into 
connection  with  many  others  in  scripture.  As,  for  example, 
in  the  Psalms,  "  I  will  wash  my  hands  in  innocency."  "  Wash 
me  thoroughly  from  my  iniquity."  "  Wash  me  and  I  shall  be 
whiter  than  snow."  And  in  Isaiah,  "  Wash  ye,  make  you 
clean,  put  away  evil."  And  in  Jeremiah,  "  O  Jerusalem, 
wash  thy  heart  from  wickedness."  No  one  has  ever  doubted 
that  in  such  passages  as  these,  to  wash  means  to  wash  spirit- 
ually, or  to  cleanse  away  wickedness. 

But  is  this  a  mere  figure  of  speech  ?  Is  it  only  an  instance 
of  what  is  called  the  poetry  of  the  Bible  ?  It  is  a  figure,  and 
it  is  poetry  ;  but  it  is  so  by  virtue  of  the  science  and  law  of 
correspondence.     It  is  so  because  the  material  universe  cor- 


CORRESPONDENCE   OF  WATER.  337 

responds  in  the  whole  and  in  all  its  parts  to  the  spiritual 
universe.  It  is  so  because  water  corresponds  to  tkuth. 
This  correspondence  is  not  fanciful,  coming  up  in  an  imagina- 
tive way,  when  one  wishes  to  make  a  poetical  or  rhetorical 
use  of  it.  It  is  one  of  the  most  universal  and  fundamental 
laws  of  creation  and  the  universe.  Water,  in  the  world 
of  matter,  everywhere,  always,  under  all  circumstances,  in  all 
its  laws  and  all  its  functions,  corresponds  to  Truth  in  the 
world  of  mind.  Therefore  it  has  this  correspondence  always 
wherever  water  or  the  use  of  water  is  mentioned  in  the 
Scripture.  I  use  now  the  word  Truth  because  I  have 
no  English  word  to  represent  better  all  that  exists  in  the 
human  understanding.  It  means  all  that  really  is  Truth,  and 
also  all  that  seems  to  be  Truth;  and  therefore  sometimes 
signifies  the  opposite  of  Truth.  Just  as  water,  one  of  the 
most  necessary  and  useful  things  upon  earth,  may  be  and 
sometimes  is  foul,  mischievous  and  destructive. 

It  may  be  well  to  glance  at  a  few  passages  of  Scripture 
which  are  made  significant  by  this  correspondence  of  water. 
In  the  text  which  stands  on  my  titlepage,  our  Lord  says, 
"  He  that  believeth  on  me  shall  never  thirst."  Did  any  one 
ever  suppose  that  our  Lord  means  that  he  who  believes  in 
Him,  shall  never  feel  physical  thirst?  This  is  impossible. 
It  must  mean  something  else.  And  it  must  mean  that  the 
thirst  which  is  a  thirst  for  religious  truth  will  be  satisfied  by 
a  ftdl  and  firm  faith  in  Him.  Water  must  mean  here,  spirit- 
ual water,  truth.  And  the  New  Church  only  says  that  what 
it  must  mean  in  these  and  a  few  other  passages,  it  does  ac 
tually  mean  in  all  other  passages ;  and  this,  not  by  an  acci- 
dental, or  arbitrary,  or  rhetorical  use  of  something  which 
happens  to  admit  of  this  symbolic  use,  but  by  an  exact  and 
rigorous  law  of  a  science,  that  is  founded  in  the  laws  of 
creation  and  the  nature  of  things.  In  the  many  commands 
that  the  priests  and  the  sacrifices  should  be  washed  this  mean- 
ing is  perhaps  plain  enough.     So  the  command  in  Leviticus,. 

22 


338  WASHING   ONE'S  HANDS   OF  IT. 

chap.  xvii.  ver,  16,  that  one  who  had  violated  a  certain  law 
should  wash  both  his  clothes  and  himself.  "  Then  shall  he  be 
clean.  But  if  he  wash  them  not  nor  bathe  his  flesh,  then 
shall  he  bear  his  iniquity."  So  when  Elijah  ordered  Naaman 
to  wash  in  Jordan  seven  times ;  Jordan,  the  bounding  river 
of  Judea  proper,  means  as  has  been  said  the  elementary  or 
introductory  truths  of  religion.  Naaman  was  required  to 
wash  seven  times,  that  he  might  be  thoroughly  cleansed, 
because  his  disease,  leprosy,  corresponded  to  the  deadliest  of 
sins.  But  the  passages  in  which  washing  is  mentioned  are 
innumerable,  and  of  most  of  them  the  simple  application  of 
this  correspondence  discloses  the  significance. 

Indeed  this  correspondence  is  one  of  those  which  forces 
itself  upon  the  mind.  Hence  washing — or  baptism  —  in 
some  form,  has  entered  into  the  religious  observances  of 
nearly  all  religions  and  all  nations,  and  into  common  phrase- 
ology. One  often  says  now,  "  I  wash  my  hands  of  it ;  "  and 
formerly  this  thing  was  often  done  as  an  emphatic  expression 
of  the  same  thought.  As  "  when  Pilate  saw  that  he  could 
prevail  nothing,  but  that  a  tumult  was  made,  he  took  water 
and  washed  his  hands  before  the  multitude,  saying,  I  am  in- 
nocent of  the  blood  of  this  just  person.  See  ye  to  it."  The 
people  understood  his  meaning  and  accepted  it,  for  they  "  an- 
swered and  said.  His  blood  be  upon  us  and  on  our  children." 

Baptism  therefore  means  the  cleansing  from  sin  by  truth ; 
the  washing  away  of  sins  by  obedience  to  the  truths  which 
forbid  them. 

And  now  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  remember,  that 
John's  preparation  for  the  coming  of  our  Lord  consisted  of 
two  things.  One  was  Baptism,  the  other  was  Repentance. 
And  these  two  must  go  together,  in  absolute  conjunction,  or 
neither  of  them  is  any  thing.  Repentance  without  Reform 
is  nothing.  But  Reform  without  repentance  is  as  completely 
nothing. 

Baptism  without  Repentance  is  the  abstinence  from  sin 


SENT.  339 

without  an  acknowledgment  of  its  sinfulness.  It  is  obe- 
dience to  truth  and  law  on  some  other  ground  than  that  truth 
is  God's  rebuke  for  sin  and  the  guide  he  gives  to  lead  us 
from  sin.  It  is  obedience  on  any  and  every  ground,  of  pride, 
or  worldliness,  or  interest,  or  prudence,  or  self-complacency, 
—  excepting  the  only  ground  which  can  make  it  baptism 
unto  salvation.  And  the  Bible  is  full  of  passages  inculcating 
and  illustrating  the  law,  that  the  reform  of  conduct,  the  wash- 
ing away  of  evil,  must  come  from  a  religious  motive,  to  be 
effectual.     It  is  difficult  to  choose  from  among  them. 

Thus,  the  blind  man  was  commanded  to  go  and  wash  in  the 
pool  of  Siloam,  "  which  is,  by  interpretation,  Sent  ; "  be- 
cause the  spiritually  blind  cannot  recover  their  sight  and 
know  the  true  from  the  false,  unless  they  cleanse  their  sins 
away  by  washing  in  the  waters  sent  from  God ;  in  the  truths 
of  that  Law  which  He  has  given ;  nor  unless  they  do  this  in 
the  knowledge  and  acknowledgment  that  the  washing  is  by 
His  help  ;  and  that  they  too  are  sent  by  His  divine  help  and 
influence  to  the  truths  which  He  has  already  sent  down  from 
heaven  to  wash  away  the  sins  of  men. 

All  that  our  Lord  says  to  the  Jews  of  their  washing  "  the 
outside  of  the  cup  and  the  platter  while  within  they  are  full 
of  extortion  and  excess  "  refers  to  this  baptism  without  re- 
pentance. And  therefore  he  discloses  to  them  why  they 
should  clean  the  inside,  and  how  the  cleansing  may  be  effect- 
ual. He  teaches  them  repentance  and  baptism,  when  He 
says,  "  Blind  Pharisee,  cleanse  first  that  which  is  within  the 
cup  and  platter,  that  the  outside  may  be  indeed  clean."  And 
when  He  says  that  no  one  can  be  saved  who  is  not  bom  of 
water  and  of  the  spirit,  He  teaches  that  only  he  is  saved  who 
repents  of  and  reforms  from  outward  sin,  and  is  led  to  reform 
by  that  desire  of  inward  purity,  which  is  given  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  all  who  are  willing  to  receive  it. 

It  is  not  against  baptism,  but  against  baptism  and  repent- 
ance, that  the  natural  man  utterly  rebels.     "  Are  not  Abana 


840  BAPTISM  A  SIGN. 

and  Pharpar,  rivers  of  Damascus,  better  than  all  the  waters  of 
Israel  ?  May  I  not  wash  in  them  and  be  clean  ?  So  he 
turned  and  went  away  in  a  rage."  The  natural  man,  give 
him  selfish  motive  enough,  will  make  his  outer  life  whiter 
than  snow,  while  "  inwardly  he  is  full  of  extortion  and  ex- 
cess." Not  all  the  beautiful  and  abounding  rivers  of  Da- 
mascus can  wash  that  leprosy  away,  which  only  the  waters  of 
Jordan  have  power  to  heal. 

Baptism  is  then  the  sign  of  regeneration.  But  it  is  not 
regeneration.  It  is  the  symbol,  or  the  beginning,  or  the  prom- 
ise, of  a  great  work ;  but  it  is  not  the  work  itself.  In  former 
ages,  and  to  some  extent  even  now,  baptism  is  regarded  as 
imparting  and  eflPecting  regeneration.  In  the  early  centuries 
of  Christianity,  it  was  not  uncommon  for  converted  Chris- 
tians to  delay  baptism  until  they  were  dying,  believing  that 
this  rite  cleansed  all  previous  sin  away,  and  as  death  would 
prevent  any  farther  sin,  their  salvation  was  thus  secured.* 
But  even  then  there  were  wise  men  who  thought  more  wisely 
of  this  Sacrament.  When  Athanasius  the  Great,  Bishop  of 
Alexandria  in  the  fourth  century,  was  asked  what  he  thought 
of  those  death-bed  rites,  and  of  the  condition  of  persons 
upon  whom  this  seal  of  baptism  was  set  in  their  last  hour,  he 
answered  with  one  of  those  apologues  so  common  in  those 
days,  — "  Possibly  St.  Peter  may  ask,  why  do  you  send  me 
these  treasure  bags,  so  carefully  sealed,  with  nothing  in 
them  ?  " 

Is  then  Baptism  nothing  more  than  a  sign,  or  symbol? 
Yes,  it  is  much  more.  They  who  are  accquainted  with  the 
doctrines  of  the  New  Church  and  are  taught  the  unity  of 
the  universe  before  its  Maker,  know  that  the  spiritual  and  the 
material  worlds  are  closely  united.  That  the  material  work! 
is  the  foundation  upon  which  the  spiritual  world  rests,  while 


*  A  remarkable  instance  of  this  belief  is  related  in  St.  Augustine's  con- 
fessions. 


BAPTISM  MORE   THAN  A  SIGN.  341 

the  spiritual  world  is  the  organ  or  instrument  of  life  to  this 
lower  world.  They  know  that  any  solemn  act  performed  in 
this  world  is  the  ultimation  of  some  spiritual  act  to  which  it 
gives  completeness  and  efficacy ;  and  that  it  reaches  upwards 
into  that  higher  world  and  is  known  and  felt  there.  Hence 
the  rite  of  baptism  informs  those  who  are  above,  that  the  bap- 
tized person  is  given  to  Christianity.  It  opens  a  new  path- 
way from  them  to  him,  and  establishes  new  relations  between 
them.  It  brings  about  him  new  associates,  or  places  those 
who  were  with  him  before  in  nearer  and  closer  association, 
and  gives  them  the  opportunity  of  new  influence.  It  apprises 
them  that  a  first  step  towards  regeneration  has  been  taken, 
an  introductory  step ;  and  it  calls  upon  them  to  watch  and 
work  henceforward,  that  this  step  may  be  followed  by  the 
successive  steps  which  lead  towards  heavenly  happiness. 

The  saying,  "  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be 
saved,"  may  be  most  true  of  one  who  has  never  heard  the 
name  of  Jesus,  and  never  received  the  waters  of  baptism. 
For  to  every  human  being  such  divine  truth  is  given  as  may 
lead  him  to  salvation.  K  he  receives  it  and  obeys  it,  and  in 
its  light  and  by  its  help  resists  the  evils  which  beset  him, 
he  "  believeth,  and  is  baptized  "  and  is  saved. 

The  question  may  then  occur.  How  could  our  Lord  need 
repentance ;  how  could  he  repent  ?  The  sinless  and  undefiled 
could  not  repent  of  sin  committed.  But  this  is  not  the  whole 
of  repentance.  There  is  another  part  of  it,  —  the  inner  and 
greater  part,  —  possible  for  Him  as  for  us ;  and  infinitely 
more  possible  for  Him,  than  for  us.  This  is,  to  detect  th 
first  beginnings  of  proclivity  to  sin,  the  first  revelations  of  an 
existing  tendency  to  sin,  to  know  this  by  its  true  character, 
to  call  it  by  its  true  name,  to  bring  to  bear  against  it  the 
influence  of  the  truth  which  rebukes  it,  and  at  once  arrest  its 
growth  and  suppress  its  life. 

AH  possible  proclivities  to  sin  existed  in  our  Lord's  mater- 


342  TEE  LITTLE   ONES   OF  BABYLON. 

nal  humanity ;  He  waited  to  assume  it  until  "  the  fulness  of 
time,"  had  iSUed  this  humanity  with  tendencies  to  sinfulness 
of  every  kind ;  He  assumed  it  that  He  might  overcome,  by  His 
almighty  power,  that  strength  of  sin  which  rose  up  in  his 
humanity  with  a  power  only  less  than  almighty.  All  this 
proclivity  to  sin,  as  daily  and  hourly  it  came  into  conscious- 
ness and  demanded  indulgence,  he  resisted,  instantly,  perfectly, 
and  triumphantly.  Well  is  it  for  us,  when  our  repentance 
begins  where  His  was  wrought;  in  the  beginnings,  the  first 
suggestions  of  sin ;  He  needed  not  that  any  such  tendency  to 
sin  should  grow  into  act,  for  He  knew  them  all  at  their  birth. 
He  knew  them  all ;  and  how  small  a  part  of  them  can  we 
ever  know !  He  was  able  to  overcome  them  perfectly,  and 
promptly;  how  imperfect  is  our  best  repentance,  and  how 
often  is  it  delayed  until  the  sin  has  grown  into  the  fulness  of 
its  hideous  stature ! 

Because  in  Him  this  work  was  entire  and  perfect.  His 
external  man  was  made  divine  and  perfectly  united  with  the 
divine  within.  And  infinitely  imperfect  as  ours  must  be,  let 
us  try  to  approach  a  fitting  thankfulness,  that,  by  His  help,  we 
may  follow  in  the  path  He  opens,  so  far  as  to  bring  to  us 
regeneration. 

The  137th  Psalm  is  the  mournful  song  of  the  captives  in 
Babylon.  "  By  the  rivers  of  Babylon,  —  we  wept."  Babylon 
is  evil,  is  hell.  The  Psalm  closes  thus :  "  O  daughter  of 
Babylon  —  happy  shall  he  be  that  taketh  and  dasheth  thy 
little  ones  against  the  stones."  This,  which  seems  in  the 
literal  sense  a  most  cruel  and  savage  expression  of  revenge, 
is,  in  its  spiritual  sense,  the  constant  prayer  of  every  religious 
man.  Earnestly  does  he  ask  the  divine  influence  to  enable 
him  and  help  him  to  lay  hold  of  the  first  beginnings  of  evil  in 
his  mind,  the  early  germs  of  sinful  affection  and  sinful  thought, 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  Babylon  while  they  are  yet  "  lit- 
tle ones,"  and  dash  them  against  the  stones,  against  the 
truths  which  expose  and  resist  them,  against  the  Rock  of 


DAVID  A   TYPE   OF  OUR  LORD.  343 

our  salvation ;  against  all  the  Divine  Truth  as  it  comes  to  us 
in  the  instructions  which  detect  and  the  commands  which 
prohibit  them. 

The  nearer  we  can  come  to  this,  the  better  we  shall  be. 
The  more  we  do  of  this,  the  more  of  righteousness  we  do ; 
and  the  less  we  do  the  more  of  righteousness  we  leave  un- 
done. And  because  our  Lord  could  do  all  of  this  work  with 
infinite  perfection,  when  He  received  the  baptism  of  John  He 
said,  "  Thus  it  becometh  us,  to  fulfil  all  Righteousness. 

The  Psalms  of  David  in  their  most  internal  sense  relate 
only  to  our  Lord  ;  to  His  conflicts,  temptations,  and  sufferings, 
His  victories  and  thanksgiving.  David  was  a  forerunner,  a 
type,  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  David  in  taking  Bathsheba  and 
causing  Uriah  to  be  killed  committed  one  of  the  foulest  crimes 
ever  recorded.  Can  this  too  be  a  type  of  any  thing  in  our 
Lord's  life?  K  we  read  the  51st  Psalm  we  learn  how  David 
repented  of  this  sin ;  how  he  expressed  his  repentance  with 
an  intensity  of  grief,  a  waU  of  woe  and  self-accusation  that  no 
words  have  ever  surpassed.  But  Jesus  was  the  Son  of 
David,  and  inherited  from  him  through  Mary,  all  those  ten- 
dencies to  wrong-doing  and  sin  which  in  David  were  ulti- 
mated  in  that  crime.  All  those  tendencies  and  proclivities 
to  sin  were  known  to  Jesus ;  all  of  them  He  saw  and  felt, 
but  none  of  them  did  He  indulge,  and  of  the  thought  and  the 
feeling  He  repented  infinitely  more  than  David  ever  repented 
of  the  act ;  all  of  them  He  knew  and  all  He  resisted  and  over- 
came and  utterly  suppressed,  with  a  conflict  of  which  the 
suffering  is  expressed  as  well  as  words  can  do  it,  in  that 
Psalm,  and  yet  most  imperfectly. 

John  came  to  prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord.  He  preached 
baptism  and  Repentance.  And  only  the  baptism  he  preached, 
and  the  repentance  he  preached,  working  together,  can  pre- 
pare the  way  of  the  Lord ;  can  do  what  John  said  he  came 
to  do.  They  only  are  the  "  Forerunner  "  of  the  Lord  and  of 
His  work,  and  when  they  are  joined  in  their  activity,  they 


344  THE  MOTHER   OF  JOHN. 

will  make  the  paths  of  His  divine  influence  straight  and 
smooth.  They  will  fill  the  valleys  of  humiliation  with  the 
joy  of  acceptance,  and  bring  down  the  hills  and  mountains 
of  pride.  The  crooked,  which  was  bent  from  the  line  of 
right  by  the  distorting  influence  of  wrong,  will  be  made 
straight.  And  the  ways  which  had  become  rough  and  very 
difficult  will  be  made  smooth,  and  we  shall  walk  in  them 
towards  the  gates  of  heaven.  And  thus  will  His  way  to  us 
be  prepared  for  His  coming.  And  when  He  thus  comes. 
He  will  thoroughly  purge  His  threshing  floor  ;  for  they  who 
have  thus  been  baptized  unto  repentance  will  be  as  wheat 
which  He  will  gather  into  His  garner  in  Heaven.  And  they 
who  refuse  to  be  cleansed  by  the  waters  of  this  baptism  will 
be  as  the  chaff";  and  in  their  hearts  He  will  permit  the  loves 
of  sin  and  self  to  burn,  for  they  will  have  no  other  life,  and 
if  this  were  quenched  they  would  perish.  And  then  will  all 
flesh,  all  that  is  natural  in  man,  all  that  man  in  his  freedom 
will  permit  the  divine  influence  to  reach,  all,  all,  will  be 
purified  and  elevated  and  made  spiritual,  and  so  made  living 
flesh,  living  with  spiritual  life ;  and  it  will  see  the  salvation 
of  God. 

It  is  said,  "  Behold  /  send  my  messenger  before  thy  face, 
which  shall  prepare  thy  way  before  thee."  For  the  power  and 
effort  to  repent  are  themselves  divine  gifts.  They  are  indeed 
sent  to  all,  and  received  by  all  who  are  willing  to  receive 
them.  But  they  are  none  the  less  divine  gifts,  and  none  the 
more  the  mere,  independent,  working  of  human  nature. 

So  too  it  is  said  of  the  mother  of  John,  "  Elizabeth  was 
barren."  For  repentance  is  born  of  the  consciousness  of 
utter  barrenness.  It  is  itself  the  first  living  thing  in  the 
mind ;  and  until  it  is  born,  whatever  else  is  there,  be  its 
name  or  its  appearance  what  it  may,  it  has  no  power  of  im- 
parting life.  So  too  John  preached  repentance  "  in  the 
wilderness  of  Judea."  And  until  we  repent  the  heart  is  a 
wilderness ;  it  is  just  here  that  we  need  to  have  repentance 


EEROD  HEARS  JOHN,  AT  FIRST.  345 

preached  to  us ;  and  when  we  repent  we  know  it  to  be  a 
wilderness  where  wild  beasts  roam  at  will  and  nothing  grows 
which  can  sustain  spiritual  life. 

We  may  learn  also  that  sorrow  is  not  the  whole  of  repent- 
ance, and  that  a  true  repentance  is  an  earnest  and  effectual 
desire  to  bring  forth  the  fruits  of  righteousness,  from  the  cir- 
cumstance, that  when  the  people  crowded  about  John  and 
asked  of  him  "  ^Yhat  shall  we  do  ?  "  he  answered  all,  describ- 
ing to  each  one  in  exact  but  simple  terms,  his  duty.  Nor 
does  repentance  bring  us  out  from  the  wilderness,  or  turn  our 
faces  in  the  direction  in  which  escape  is  possible,  until  it  pre- 
scribes to  us  our  duty,  and  induces  us  to  discharge  it.  Then, 
and  then  only,  "  the  axe  is  laid  to  the  root  of  the  tree." 

"  And  they  mused  in  their  hearts  concerning  John,  whether 
he  were  the  Christ  or  not."  So  all  who  repent  are  liable  to 
believe  that  repentance  alone  is  enough  and  all,  and  that 
the  Christ  has  come.  But  a  genuine  repentance  soon  tells 
the  humbled  sinner  that  salvation  is  yet  a  great  way  off,  and 
that  a  mightier  must  come  and  do  a  mightier  work. 

Herod,  the  head  of  the  Jewish  nation,  represents  the  whole 
natural  proclivity  of  man  to  evil.  And  yet  Herod  at  first, 
"  feared  John,  knowing  that  he  was  a  just  man  and  a  holy 
.  .  .  and  he  heard  him  gladly."  But  John  reproved  Herod 
for  his  sins,  and  then  he  imprisoned  John ;  and  afterwards, 
at  the  urgent  demand  of  Herodias,  put  him  to  death.  The 
knowledge  that  John  the  Baptist  was  the  type  and  representa- 
tive of  the  repentance  he  preached,  and  that  the  history  of 
John  is  the  history  of  repentance,  makes  of  all  this  a  history 
of  events  which  now  occur  too  often,  and  always  will,  and 
which  may  occur  with  every  man. 

For  seldom  is  any  one,  who  lives  within  the  name  or 
presence  of  religion,  so  utterly  reprobate,  as  not,  at  some 
times,  to  welcome  an  emotion  of  repentance,  although  the  un- 
accustomed guest  may  bring  some  sense  of  fear.  Still  the 
man  is  glad  to  find  that  he  is  not  wholly  lost.     He  looks 


346  EOW  JOHN  IS  PUT  TO  DEATH. 

upon  this  emotion  as  evidence  of  latent  goodness  coming  at 
length  into  activity.  He  hears  it  gladly,  because  he  believes 
that  hearing  is  enough.  But  soon  this  feeling  of  repentance 
upbraids  him  for  his  sins ;  and  this  he  will  not  hear,  and  he 
shuts  it  out  from  consciousness  and  remembrance,  and  sup- 
presses and  fetters  it ;  and  thus  he  imprisons  John. 

And  surely  it  must  be  obvious  that  nothing  can  more  en- 
danger a  man's  spiritual  condition,  than  thus  to  fetter  and  shut 
up  in  prison,  to  confine  afar  off  where  it  can  neither  be  seen  nor 
heard,  the  emotion  of  repentance.  And  therefore  we  may 
understand  why  it  is  said,  that  Herod,  when  John  rebuked 
him  "  for  all  the  evils  which  he  had  done,  added  this  above  ally 
that  he  shut  up  John  in  prison." 

But  the  conflict  goes  on,  and  must  go  on ;  until,  although 
something  of  remorse  and  pain  make  itself  felt,  and  John  is 
remembered  although  bound  and  afar,  evU  conquers.  Then 
Herod  puts  John  to  death  at  the  instance  of  Herodias,  or  for 
the  sake  of  his  deadliest  and  best-beloved  sin.  And  he  does 
this  in  the  festival  hour  of  the  sin  which  John  rebuked ;  in 
the  hour  when  it  is  strongest  and  most  exultant. 


THE  SUPPER.  347 


CHAPTER  Xn. 

OF  THE  SACRAMENT  OF  THE  SUPPER. 

The  Passover  is  one  of  the  connecting  links  between  the 
Old  Testament  and  the  New.  It  has  always  been  regarded 
as  typical  and  emblematic,  or  as  having  a  spiritual  reference 
and  meaning.  St.  Paul  calls  Christ  "  Our  Passover,  sacri- 
ficed for  us."  It  was  the  most  solemn  festival  of  the  Israel- 
ites. It  holds  a  distinct  relation  to  the  most  solemn  sacrament 
of  the  Christian  Church. 

Learned  men  differ  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  word,  Pass- 
over, or  rather  as  to  its  reference.  Some  have  held  that  it 
referred  to  the  passing  of  the  Israelites  over  the  Red  Sea ; 
and  the  Latin  Vulgate  and  the  Septuagint  are  thought  to 
favor  this  view.  Our  received  English  translation  refers  it 
to  the  passing  of  the  destroying  angel  over  the  houses 
marked  with  the  blood  of  the  lamb.  The  question  is  per- 
fectly unimportant,  when  we  come  to  the  spiritual  sense. 
The  Passover  might  have  either  of  these  meanings,  and  if 
it  had  either  it  had  both;  for  they  are,  substantially,  the 
same. 

The  celebration  of  the  Passover  was  ordained  as  an  ac- 
knowledgment and  memorial  of  Regeneration. 

When  the  Israelites  were  ready  to  set  forth  on  their  pil- 
grimage from  Egypt  to  Zion,  the  destroying  angel  was  ready 
to  smite  the  first-bom  of  Egypt- 

When  men  are  ready  to  begin  their  pilgrimage  from  the 
state  represented  by  Egypt,  from  a  state  of  pure  naturalism, 
of  exclusive  love  for  the  things  of  this  world  or  for  the 


348       THE  WIND  FROM  THE  EAST. 

pleasures  of  sense  or  of  merely  sensuous  and  natural  thought, 
from  an  unbelief  of  another  life  or  of  responsibility  to  God 
or  dependence  upon  Him  and  an  absence  of  care  or  thought 
about  the  things  which  belong  to  religion,  —  then  the  destroy- 
ing angel  is  ready  to  smite  the  first-born  of  the  Egypt,  the 
Egyptian  darkness,  of  their  minds,  "  from  the  first-born  of 
Pharoah  that  sat  upon  his  throne  to  the  first-born  of  the 
captive  in  the  dungeon  and  all  the  first-born  of  the  cattle." 
For  these  influences  from  above  endeavor  to  strike  down  all 
the  powers  of  evil  which  bid  the  natural  man  think  and  care 
for  the  earth  only,  and  hold  him  in  utter  bondage. 

Pharoah,  the  king  of  Egypt  and  impersonation  of  natural- 
ism in  affection  and  in  thought,  lets  God's  people  go.  Nat- 
uralism loses  its  oppressive  and  suffocating  hold  upon 
whatever  affections  and  thoughts  feel  their  bondage  and  de- 
sire to  escape  from  it,  and  lets  them  go  forth  to  encounter 
temptation  and  distress  and  momentary  despair,  and  through 
all  make  their  way  to  a  Holy  Land,  to  the  peace  of  holi- 
ness. 

When  on  their  way  and  at  its  early  stage,  the  truth  that  is 
leading  them  forth  comes  to  the  sea  of  falsehood  which  bars 
their  progress,  the  divine  influence  makes  "  the  depths  of  the 
sea  a  way  for  the  ransomed  to  pass  over."  Thoughts  and 
perceptions  of  truth  repel  the  advancing  waves.  These 
waters  of  falsehood  are  blown  aside  by  the  "  wind  from  the 
East "  —  from  the  rising  Sun,  —  but  they  return  again  upon 
the  chariots  and  horsemen  of  Egypt ;  these  are  overwhelmed 
and  infest  no  longer  the  advancing  mind,  in  the  same  way  as 
before ;  for  it  has  passed  out  of  Egypt,  although  it  is  yet  far 
from  the  Holy  Land. 

The  Jewish  Passover  and  the  Christian  Passover  are  as  the 
beginning  and  the  end.  They  contain  between  them,  in 
their  spiritual  meaning,  all  that  belongs  to  the  work  of  Re- 
generation. For  while  the  Passover  of  the  Israelites  was 
instituted  to  commemorate  the  beginning,  the  Sacrament  of 


THE  FLESH  OF  THE  LAMB.  349 

the  Supper  was  instituted  to  commemorate  the  consumma- 
tion of  all  that  is  possible  of  Human  Regeneration. 

Let  us  look  at  the  symbolic  meaning  of  some  of  the  de- 
tails of  the  Passover.  A  lamb,  without  blemish,  was  to  be 
taken,  for  it  was  the  symbol  of  that  innocence,  in  the  desire 
for  which  the  first  seeds  of  regeneration  are  planted.  "  A 
lamb  for  a  house,  —  according  to  the  house  of  his  fathers," 
or,  if  need  be,  of  him  and  his  nearest  neighbors ;  for  the 
innocence  must  be  such  —  can  be  only  such  —  as  the  in- 
herited nature  of  the  man  and  the  social  relations  of  his 
life  make  possible.  The  blood  was  stricken  with  hyssop  upon 
the  posts  and  lintels  of  the  door  of  the  house.  The  blood 
—  the  vital  principle  of  this  innocence  —  marks  the  posts  and 
lintels  of  the  door  of  the  mind  to  prevent  the  entrance  of 
whatever  would  defeat  the  work  of  reformation.  And 
this  is  done  with  the  bitter  and  cleansing  sense  of  sin  and  the 
need  of  repentance,  —  "  Cleanse  me  with  hyssop  and  I  shall 
be  clean." 

The  flesh  of  the  lamb  was  to  be  eaten.  What  we  eat  we 
assimilate  or  appropriate  and  make  a  part  of  ourselves. 
This  symbolism  is  often  made  use  of  in  the  Bible.  The  com- 
mand was  given  not  to  eat  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil.  We  eat  of  this  fruit  when  we  believe 
that  we  are  wise  and  good  or  have  all  the  fruit  of  knowledge 
from  ourselves  and  by  our  own  unaided  strength.  We  be- 
lieve this  because  the  serpent  —  the  principle  of  sensuous 
thought  or  of  thought  from  mere  sense,  and  of  sensuous 
affection  —  tells  us  that  it  is  so.  Then  we  think  there  need 
be  no  God,  —  there  is  no  God.  And  this  is  "  the  fall  of 
man ; "  the  beginning  of  all  falsity  and  all  sin. 

But  when  we  eat  the  flesh  of  the  lamb  of  the  Passover, 
at  the  command  of  God,  we  make  that  innocence  our  own, 
but  as  His  gift.  And  it  may  be  well  to  notice  briefly  the 
manner  of  the  eating.  The  flesh  was  to  be  eaten,  "  not  raw, 
nor  sodden  with  water,  but  roast  with  fire."     Water  always 


350      THE  LAMB  EATEN  WITH  BITTER  HERBS. 

refers  to  what  is  intellectual,  fire  to  what  is  affectional ;  and 
the  innocence  we  should  make  our  own  as  His  gift,  should  be 
not  the  mere  natural  innocence  of  the  kind  feelings  or  quiet 
temper  born  with  us,  — not  raw  —  and  not  dependant  upon 
truth  only  or  mere  belief,  —  or  sodden  with  water  —  but  pre- 
pared by  the  fire  of  a  hearty  love  for  it  to  be  nourishment  for 
our  souls.  It  must  be  eaten  with  unleavened  bread;  for  the 
leaven  which  prepares  for  food  our  ordinary  bread  symbolizes 
that  mixture  of  impurity  without  which  our  spiritual  food 
would  not  be  adapted  to  us,  but  which  forms  no  part  of  that 
divine  innocence  we  desire  to  accept  and  appropriate  as  the 
gift  of  our  Father.  It  must  be  eaten  with  bitter  herbs,  which 
here  again  symbolize  the  cleansing  bitterness  of  repentance. 
"  And  thus  shall  ye  eat  it.  Your  loins  girded,  your  shoes  on 
your  feet,  your  staff  in  your  hand,  and  in  haste."  We  must 
eat  it  as  men  girded  for  the  pilgrimage,  earnest  and  in  haste 
to  flee  from  Egypt,  with  a  full  readiness  to  begin  and  a  deter- 
mination to  pursue  the  way  to  Zion,  *  and  it  will  then  give 
us  strength  to  encounter  the  perils  and  the  toils  which  lie 
before  us. 

They  who  have  no  honest,  earnest  and  reverent  belief  that 
the  Bible  is  the  Word  of  God  cannot  but  regard  these  inter- 
pretations as  mere  absurdities,  or  at  best,  as  amusing  inge- 
nuities. To  them  who  have  that  belief,  but  to  whom  it 
seems  a  strange  thing  that  the  Bible  admits  such  an  interpre- 
tation, I  would  suggest  the  question.  Would  it  not  be  far 
more  strange,  that  the  Word  of  God  should  contain  such  de- 
tails as  these,  if  they  were  wholly  incapable  of  imparting 
spiritual  and  religious  instruction  ?  But  how  is  it  possible 
for  them  to  impart  any  such  instruction,  if  they  are  not  in 

*  Among  the  strange  apothegms  which  have  come  down  from  Pytha- 
goras, is  one  which  says,  "Let  not  him  that  starteth  upon  a  journey, 
return  back,  for  the  Furies  will  go  with  him  to  his  home."  Does  this  mean 
the  same  witli  the  words  of  our  Lord,  "  No  man  having  put  his  hand  to  the 
plough  and  looking  back,  is  fit  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  "  ? 


THE  8UPPEB.  351 

some  way  symbolic  ?  Then,  if  symbolic  at  all,  is  it  irrational 
to  suppose  their  symbolism  systematic,  and  capable  of  definite 
interpretation,  by  the  application  of  definite  principles  and 
rules,  founded  upon  the  relations  which  exist  among  the 
works  of  God,  and  between  His  works  and  His  Word  ? 

Let  us  now  endeavor  to  discern  the  spiritual  meaning  con- 
veyed in  the  command  to  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Lamb  of  God ; 
of  the  Lamb  of  the  Christian  Passover. 

Our  Lord's  work  on  earth  began  with  His  earthly  life. 
But  it  was  not  until  He  was  "  about  thirty  years  old,"  that 
He  entered  upon  His  public  ministration.  At  its  begin- 
ning He  was  baptized  of  John.  At  its  close  He  instituted 
the  Holy  Supper.  Baptism  is  the  sign  and  symbol  of  a  be- 
ginning of  which  the  Supper  is  the  consummation. 

The  sanctity  of  the  Supper  has  always  been  acknowledged. 
The  words  and  circumstances  attending  its  institution  account 
for  this.  The  positive  command,  "  Do  this  in  remembrance 
of  me,"  can  never  be  forgotten,  however  it  be  interpreted,  by 
any  who  call  themselves  Christians. 

As  Baptism  has  been,  in  most  ages  of  the  Church,  interpre 
ted  literally,  so  has  the  Supper.  Nor  could  it  have  been 
otherwise. 

In  the  Catholic  Church  the  doctrine  of  the  Supper  settled 
down  into  an  assertion  of  the  actual  change  of  the  substance 
of  the  bread  and  wine  into  the  substance  of  the  flesh  and 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  And  this  doctrine  is  expressed  by 
the  word  "  Transubstantiation." 

When  the  Reformation  began,  it  was  deemed  necessary 
to  encounter  this  doctrine  and  dispose  of  it  in  some  way. 
This  necessity  involved  the  leaders  of  Protestantism  in  much 
difficulty,  and  resulted  in  a  wide  difference  of  opinion.  Cal- 
vin, and  those  who  agreed  with  him,  held  the  Supper  to  be  a 
sign  or  symbol,  of  great  sanctity  and  profound  significance, 
but  only  a  sign  or  symbol.     While  Luther  and  those  who 


852         TEE  SOUL  IS  AN  OROANIZRD  FORM. 

were  of  his  school  could  neither  adopt  the  views  of  the 
papal  church  which  they  had  left,  nor  yet  give  up  their  belief 
in  the  literal  truth  of  our  Lord's  words.  And  they  stood 
finally  on  this  ground ;  the  natural  substance  of  the  bread 
and  wine  did  not  pass  away  and  was  not  changed,  but  the 
spiritual  substance  of  our  Lord's  flesh  and  blood  was  super- 
induced upon  the  spiritual  substance,  and  the  natural  and 
spiritual  substances  co-existed.  This  they  expressed  by  re- 
nouncing the  papal  word  "  Transubstantiation  "  and  substitu- 
ting for  it  the  word  "  Consubstantiation." 

Under  these  phrases,  or  whatever  others  were  used,  there 
has  probably  existed  in  all  branches  of  the  Christian  Church 
in  all  ages,  every  degree  of  belief  in  and  reverence  for  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Supper,  from  the  largest  and  highest  to  the 
least  and  lowest.  But  they  who  have  been  most  profoundly 
impressed  with  a  conviction  of  its  sanctity,  its  value  and  its 
significance,  could  never  have  more  than  a  dim  and  undefined 
idea  of  this  significance.  Let  us  endeavor  to  state  the  reve- 
lation of  this  significance  now  made. 

Here,  as  elsewhere  we  must  ask  of  the  science  of  corres- 
pondence, which  is  a  part  of  this  revelation,  to  explain  to 
us  its  instruction.  What  then  will  this  science  tell  us,  of  the 
correspondence  of  Flesh,  —  of  Blood,  —  of  Bread,  —  of 
Wine,  of  Eating  and  of  Drinking  ?  And  then  what  interpre- 
tation will  this  science  give  us  of  the  words  and  circumstan- 
ces attending  the  institution  of  the  Supper. 

The  soul  is  an  organized  form  of  spiritual  substance,  as 
the  body  is  an  organized  form  of  material  substance.  The 
soul  exists  within  its  spiritual  body,  by  means  of  which  it 
forms  and  fills  and  animates  the  material  body.  Were  it  not 
60,  we  should  not  after  the  death  of  the  material  body,  con- 
tinue to  live  as  ourselves,  as  persons,  as  human  beings.  And 
were  it  not  so,  we  should  not  live  in  this  world.  For  matter, 
of  itself,  has  not  life,  and  no  form  or  organization  of  it 
can  give  it  independent  life,  or  do  more  than  make  it  the 


FLESH  AND  BLOOD.  353 

receptacle  and  instrument  of  life,  and  so  living.  And  when 
death  comes,  it  comes  because  the  material  organism  is  so 
disordered  by  disease  or  decay,  that  it  can  no  longer  receive 
life  from  the  spiritual  body,  and  therefore  can  no  longer  live. 
And  then  the  soul  with  its  spiritual  body  leaves  it  and  rises 
into  a  spiritual  world,  formed  as  the  spiritual  body  is,  of  spirit- 
ual substance. 

The  soul  forms  and  fills  its  spiritual  body  and  through  the 
spiritual  body  forms  and  fills  the  material  body,  by  means  of 
correspondence.  For  correspondence  is  not  merely  a  fact,  or 
a  system  of  facts,  but  it  is  a  force  by  means  of  which  higher 
things  create,  form  and  fill  the  lower  things,  which  then  cor- 
respond to  and  represent  the  higher  things. 

Flesh  is  the  general  term  for  the  vital  solids  of  the  frame. 
Blood  is  the  general  term  for  the  vital  fluids  of  the  frame. 

In  the  soul  are  two  things,  or  two  kinds  or  classes  of  things, 
to  one  or  other  of  which,  every  thing  in  the  soul  belongs. 
One  of  them  is  the  will,  the  other  is  the  understanding.  Or 
one  is  Love  and  the  other  is  Wisdom.  Or  one  is  that  which 
includes  all  the  things  of  affection  under  all  their  names,  and 
the  other  includes  all  the  things  of  thought  under  all  of  their 
names. 

It  has  heretofore  been  said  that  the  most  universal  distinc- 
tion of  the  matter  of  the  universe  is  into  solids  and  fluids. 
Of  these,  the  solids  correspond  to  the  affectional  part  of  the 
spiritual  universe,  and  the  fluids  to  the  intellectual.  So  the 
flesh  of  the  body  (or  the  body,  this  word  being  used  to 
designate  its  solids)  corresponds  to  the  will  and  all  the  things 
of  the  wUl.  And  the  blood  corresponds  to  the  understand- 
ing, and  to  all  the  things  of  the  understanding. 

In  the  simplest  form  in  which  this  can  be  stated,  Flesh 
corresponds  to  Grood,  and  Blood  to  Truth. 

What  is  Good  ? 

A  moment's  reflection  will  tell  us  that  we  use  the  word 
"good"  in  three  different  senses.     In  one  sense,  we  mean. 

23 


354  WHAT  GOOD  MEANS. 

by  it  that  which  is  morally  good,  and  stands  in  opposition  to 
that  which  is  morally  bad.  Probably  every  one  has  some- 
thing in  his  mind,  which  tells  him  that  there  is  a  difference 
between  good  and  evil ;  between  right  and  wrong. 

But  we  also  use  the  word  "  good "  in  the  sense  of  satis- 
factory or  agreeable  and  pleasant,  and  in  this  sense  it  is  ap- 
plied to  whatever  gratifies  any  desire,  as  when  one  says  of  an 
article  of  food,  that  it  is  good,  and  so  by  a  common  phrase,  one 
who  desires  gain  will  say  that  he  has  made  a  "  good "  bar- 
gain, meaning  the  gainful  one  he  desires. 

And  there  is  yet  a  third  sense,  not  so  sharply  defined,  but 
distinguishable  from  the  other  two.  In  this  sense  "  good  "  as 
an  adjective  means  fit  for,  adapted  to,  or  adequate  to.  As  in 
Gen.  iii.  6,  "  The  woman  saw  that  the  tree  was  good  for 
food."  So  good  for  any  particular  purpose  means  adapted  to 
that  purpose,  and  good  for  nothing  means  wholly  useless ; 
and  good  for  so  much  means  equal  to  or  capable  of  so  much. 

These  three  senses  all  diverge  from  one  source ;  they  are 
all  founded  on  one  truth.  That  truth  is,  that  all  good  is  in 
God,  and  from  God,  and  is  therefore  divine  in  its  origin,  and  its 
original  character.  And  we  may  easily  see  how  good,  in  its 
origin  and  in  its  essence,  perfectly  combines  these  three  senses. 

Li  the  first  place,  it  is  perfectly  good  in  the  moral  sense. 
For  it  is  simply  impossible  for  us  to  imagine  any  obscurity  or 
qualification  or  taint  of  wrong  resting  upon  the  divine  good- 
ness. 

In  the  next  place,  the  second  sense  is  equally  implied,  for 
it  is  the  infinite  divine  goodness  which  causes  the  infinite 
divine  happiness.  Goodness  in  Him  perfectly  agrees  with, 
and  is  pleased  with;  every  thing  that  could  be  agreeable  to 
perfectly  pure  moral  affections ;  and  to  nothing  else. 

And  in  the  third  place,  it  is  the  source,  as  it  is  the  guide,  of 
the  infinite  divine  power.  It  is  its  source,  because  only  from 
the  divine  goodness  comes  the  desire  or  impelling  influence 
which  moves  Him  to  act,  as  He  does  act,  always  and  infinitely. 


DIVINE   GOODNESS.  355 

And  it  seeks  for  ever  to  do  what  this  divine  goodness  desires, 
and  to  do  as  this  divine  goodness  desires ;  to  do,  or  to  cause 
all  those  things  which  are  adapted  to  carry  into  effect  what 
this  goodness  desires. 

But  while  these  three  senses  or  aspects  of  good  are  one 
in  God,  in  us  they  are  divided,  because  they  are  perverted. 

"We  sometimes  call  that  good  morally  which  is  approved 
by  our  perverted  moral  taste ;  but  this  is  not  that  good  which 
could  make  us  happy. 

Again,  we  call  that  good  which  gives  pleasure  to  this 
perverted  moral  taste. 

And  lastly,  we  deem  that  to  be  good  for  us,  which  we  can 
use  as  an  instrument  for  the  purposes  which  our  infirm  and 
perverted  moral  character  desires. 

But  good,  essential  good,  is  always,  that  which  (how- 
ever limited)  is  not  changed  from,  nor  in  any  way  made  to 
contradict  the  divine  goodness. 

Our  salvation  depends,  and  our  eternal  happiness  depends, 
upon  our  correcting  the  perversion  of  our  character  and  our 
affections ;  or  upon  our  receiving  into  ourselves  and  making 
our  own  by  voluntary  adoption  and  assimilation,  the  divine 
good.  Not  infinitely,  as  it  is  in  Him,  but  finitely,  as  we 
can ;  but  still  without  its  perversion  into  the  opposite  of  that 
good. 

To  this  end  our  Lord  entered  into  the  world.  For  this 
purpose  He  became  a  man,  and  one  of  us.  He  perfectly 
cleansed  his  humanity  from  all  taint  of  evil.  He  did  this  in 
such  a  way,  that  by  doing  it  he  was  able  to  open  a  way 
in  which  we  may  tread.  He  resisted,  overcame  and  brought 
into  subjection  and  order  all  the  evil  spirits  which  could 
assail  him  through  the  evils  of  his  assumed  humanity.  These 
were  the  same  spirits,  or  evil  spirits  of  the  same  kind  with 
those  who  assail  us  through  our  inherited  evils  and  animate 
them  into  sin.  And  by  reducing  all  of  them  to  subjection  and 
order,  he  redeemed  us  from  the  bondage  which  would  have 


356  TEE  BREAD   OF  LIFE. 

made  it  impossible  for  us,  in  the  exercise  of  our  own  freedom, 
to  receive  and  profit  by  the  saving  influences  by  which  He 
perpetually  endeavors  to  lead  us  along  that  way  of  goodness. 

It  is  to  Good,  in  this  pure  and  exalted  sense,  that  the 
flesh  of  the  Son  of  Man  corresponds.  He  gives  it  to  us 
eternally.  It  is  of  His  infinite  love,  and  a  part  of  His  infinite 
happiness,  to  give  it  to  us  always,  and  to  lead  us  and  help  us 
always,  to  receive  it  and  make  it  our  own.  And  when  we 
receive  it  and  make  it  our  own,  we  eat  His  flesh. 

So  too  we  then  eat  the  bread  He  gives  us ;  the  bread  of 
life.  For  bread  is  often  used  as  a  generic  term  for  food ;  and 
as  food  nourishes  our  material  body  and  is  indispensable  to  its 
life,  so  it  is  this  divine  goodness,  in  us,  which  alone  nourishes 
and  strengthens  and  becomes  every  thing  in  us  that  is  truly 
Life. 

Divine  Good,  and  Divine  Wisdom,  are  in  perfect  Union, 
and  in  perfect  Unity,  in  the  Lord.  But  in  us  they  are  two, 
and  they  are  two  in  the  whole  universe,  which  is  His  creation 
for  us,  and  is  adapted  to  us.  To  one  or  the  other  of  them, 
every  finite  and  created  thing  refers  and  corresponds  :  or  to 
their  union  so  far  as  this  union  is  effected. 

In  a  man,  the  body,  as  has  been  said,  meaning  the  complex 
of  the  solids,  in  its  general  correspondence  refers  to  Love 
or  Good,  and  the  blood  to  "Wisdom,  or  Truth.  Or  the  body 
to  the  affectional,  and  the  blood  to  the  intellectual. 

Our  salvation  depends  upon  our  resisting  our  evils,  and  by 
avoiding  sin,  and  repenting  of  sin  when  committed,  putting 
away  from  us  our  sinfulness.  Because  in  that  way,  and  in 
no  other  way,  can  that  condition  of  mind  and  character 
grow  up,  in  which  we  shall  permanently  love  goodness  more 
than  evil,  and  truth  more  than  falsity,  and  thus  become  capable 
of  genuine  and  abiding  happiness. 

But  our  perversity  and  our  natural  proclivity  to  evil,  is  so 
complete,  that  we  could  not  know  it,  if  it  were  not  revealed  ; 
nor  can  we  know  it  unless  we  accept  the  revelation.     We 


THE  LORD   THE   WORD   OF  GOD.  357 

could  not  know  the  distinction  between  good  and  evil,  unless 
we  were  taught  that  it  existed  and  what  it  was.  And  it  is 
Truth  which  teaches  this.  It  is  Divine  Truth  which  comes 
from  God,  that  teaches  us  the  true  character  of  our  evil  acts 
and  tendencies.  It  comes  to  show  us  what  is  evil,  and  how 
this  evil  opposes  God,  and  how  we  may  overcome  this  evil 
and  put  it  away.  It  comes  to  us  for  this  purpose,  so  accom- 
modated to  our  nature  and  our  needs,  that  it  may  effect  this 
purpose,  if  we  permit  it  to  do  so.  And  for  this  purpose  it 
comes  as  the  Word  of  God. 

It  may  be  said  that  it  comes  as  His  Word,  in  all  the  in- 
struction or  suggestion  of  truth  given  to  men.  But  it  comes 
most  and  most  directly,  in  that  Book,  which  alone  among 
books,  is  the  Word  of  God. 

But  our  Lord  also  came  to  give  this  instruction ;  to  make 
plainer  and  more  effectual  the  instruction  previously  given- 
But  more  than  this.  He  came  as  the  embodiment  of  this  Wis- 
dom. He  came,  to  live  as  a  man  among  men,  but  to  govern 
his  whole  life  and  every  moment  of  it  by  this  Wisdom.  He 
came,  to  bring  this  Wisdom  out  in  its  fulness  in  a  human  life, 
and  thus  to  make  that  life  one  with  the  divine  life  of  Good. 
He  came  as  the  Word  of  God,  to  exhibit  that  Word,  and  to 
be  that  Word  after  the  glorification  was  completed  as  wholly 
in  the  outermost  of  his  externals  as  in  His  inmost  Divinity. 
He  was  and  is  the  Word  of  God. 

The  blood  of  the  Son  of  Man  refers  and  corresponds  to 
and  represents  this  Divine  Wisdom. 

We  drink  His  blood,  when  we  receive  His  divine  Truth ; 
receive  it  as  His  and  not  ours ;  learn  from  it  what  in  us  is 
evil ;  learn  from  it  how  to  resist  this  evil  and  put  it  away. 
And  then  we  receive  it  into  the  very  structure  of  om-  own 
minds ;  we  unite  it  with  our  affections ;  we  receive,  we  as- 
similate and  appropriate  His  Divine  Wisdom.  We  drink  the 
blood  of  the  Son  of  God. 

But  we  do  this  under  the  semblance  and  symbol  of  drink- 


358  SPIRITUAL   TRUTH. 

ing  the  wine  of  the  Holy  Supper,  when  we  drink  that  wine 
in  remembrance  of  Him. 

Wine  refers  and  corresponds  to  and  represents  spiritual 
truth.  When  we  say  this  we  state  a  fact,  which  could  not 
be  stated  and  illustrated  in  its  hold  upon  aU  surrounding  and 
related  truth  and  science  —  even  so  imperfectly  as  we  might 
hope  to  do  it  —  without  writing  a  volume.  Something  of  this 
has  been  attempted,  in  the  explanation  of  the  first  miracle 
which  our  Saviour  wrought. 

Let  us  now  add  only,  that  Wine  is  "the  blood  of  the 
grape,"  ripened  by  the  sun,  and  then  drawn  off  and  permitted 
to  pass,  by  its  own  inherent  tendency,  into  this  new  condi- 
tion. Then,  used  to  a  proper  extent,  in  conjunction  with 
food,  and  when  the  bodily  organism  is  suited  to  it,  it  nour- 
ishes and  animates  the  whole  man.  But  if  used  in  dispro- 
portion or  to  excess,  or  when  the  body  is  not  suited  to  it,  it 
produces  intoxication,  and  disease,  and  may  go  on  to  death. 

So  it  is  with  Spiritual  Truth.  For  Spiritual  Truth  is 
founded  on  natural  truth,  exalted  and  transformed ;  and  when 
rightfully  regarded  and  used,  and  permitted  to  do  its  proper 
work,  is  as  the  wholesome  and  vivifying  wine  of  the  Soul. 

But  when  it  is  received  in  and  by  the  understanding  only, 
it  does  little  good.  The  more  there  is  of  it,  and  the  more  it 
is  loved  and  sought  and  learned  for  the  understanding  only, 
the  more  it  inspires  of  vagaries  and  fantastic  illusions,  and 
this  may  go  on  until  the  soul  is  sick,  until  we  are  dizzy  with 
the  intoxication  of  pride,  until  "  we  are  drunken  but  not  with 
wine,"  or  still  farther  until  all  true  spiritual  life  dies  out,  and 
"  the  second  death  "  has  come. 

The  three  first  gospels  narrate  the  circumstances  of  the 
Last  Supper,  and  tlie  command  of  the  Lord  respecting  it. 

But  the  Gospel  of  John  substitutes  for  all  this,  a  narrative 
which  seems  to  be  entirely  different.  And  yet  it  is,  in  its 
essence  and  its  Spirit,  only  a  continuation  and  completion  of 
the  former  narrative. 


WASHING   THE  FEET.  359 

Our  Lord  began  to  wash  the  feet  of  His  disciples.  And 
when  one  of  them  expressed  his  surprise  and  reluctance, 
"  Jesus  answered  him ;  if  I  wash  thee  not,  thou  hast  no 
part  in  me."  And  afterwards  He  added,  "  He  that  is 
washed  needeth  not  save  to  wash  his  feet,  but  is  clean  every 
whit." 

Of  conduct  and  language  so  apparently  unmeaning  as  this, 
it  is  obvious  that  we  can  leam  the  purpose  and  the  signifi- 
cance only  by  supposing  a  symbolic,  or  spiritual  meaning ; 
and  we  can  learn  this,  only  from  the  science  of  correspond- 
ence. 

It  must  be  noticed  that  these  occurrences  took  place  imme- 
diately after  the  Supper  which  is  described  in  the  other  Gos- 
pels. "  And  Supper  being  ended,  Jesus  .  .  .  riseth  from  the 
Supper."  The  reason  of  this  is,  that  in  this  Gospel  we  have 
the  effect  and  consummation  of  the  observance  of  the  Supper 
which  is  commanded  in  the  others. 

Our  feet  are  in  contact  with  the  earth ;  by  them  we  stand 
upon  the  earth ;  and  by  our  feet  we  move  along  its  ways,  and 
go  to  the  places  of  our  duties. 

The  Lord  gives  to  us  an  inmost  of  which  we  are  wholly 
unconscious,  and  into  which  He  may  flow  directly.  He  also 
gives  to  us  an  internal,  into  which  he  may  flow  through  the 
angels,  and  teach  us  spiritual  truth,  and  inspire  in  us  spiritual 
affections.  But  he  also  gives  us  an  external,  into  which 
spiritual  truth  and  good  may  descend  and  stand  and  move 
upon  the  earth  and  among  its  uses.  He  gives  us  power  to 
])ermit  them  so  to  descend,  or  to  obstruct  and  prevent  their 
descent,  or  pervert  their  character  and  influence.  And  in 
and  by  this  external,  the  good  and  the  truth  which  flow  into 
the  internal,  may  bring  forth  their  fruits,  and  express  them- 
selves in  life,  and  become  a  part  of  our  own  abiding  life ;  nor 
can  they  become  elements  of  our  own  personal  life  other- 
wise. 

The  feet  correspond  to  and  represent  this  external.     If  this 


360  WASHING   ONE  ANOTHER'S  FEET. 

external  be  foul  with  impurity  and  sin  we  are  foul  "  every 
whit."  K  it  be  clean ;  if  all  impurity  and  sin  be  purged 
away  from  our  conduct  or  our  external  life,  then  are  we 
"clean  every  whit,"  —  provided,  always  provided,  we  have 
permitted  Him  to  do  this  cleansing  work. 

A  man  may,  from  motives  of  pride,  or  self-interest,  or  any 
other  motive  excepting  the  desire  to  obey  Him,  avoid  every 
taint  of  sin  in  his  external  life,  —  and  only  drive  this  taint 
within.  And  he  may  thus  so  root  it  there,  that  it  wiU 
constitute  his  life,  his  abiding  and  eternal  life. 

Only  when  our  outward  life  is  not  only  clean,  but  clean  be- 
cause we  have  suffered  Him  to  make  us  clean ;  only  when  we 
are  clean  because  His  kingdom  has  come  within  us  and  all 
that  rebels  against  Him  is  cast  out ;  and  His  power  is  within 
us  and  all  of  our  power  is  subordinate  to  His,  when  His  is 
the  glory  because  we  give  to  Him  the  whole  glory  of  a  work 
which  from  ourselves  alone  we  could  neither  do  nor  begin  nor 
desire  to  begin ;  only  then  are  we  "  clean  every  whit." 

And  then  we  shall  remember  His  words,  ''  If  I  then,  your 
Lord  and  Master,  have  washed  your  feet,  you  also  ought  to 
wash  one  another's  feet." 

We  shall  remember  and  obey  these  words  ;  for  it  could  not 
be  otherwise.  If  we  have  been  cleansed  by  Him,  we  have 
received  from  Him  into  our  own  hearts,  His  own  love ;  and 
it  is  a  love  of  purity,  and  of  goodness,  and  of  infinite  good- 
ness. We  know  the  blessing  this  love  imparts.  We  shall 
know  that  we  can  do  nothing  else  for  others  of  so  much 
worth,  as  when  we  give  them  any  assistance  in  thus  becom- 
ing clean.  We  shall  know  that  then  we  give  them  gifts  of 
unimaginable  and  ever-growing  value.  And  as,  to  give  these 
gifts  to  us  and  to  all,  was  the  very  end  and  aim  in  which  His 
infinite  love  centred,  so  it  will  be  our  highest  happiness  to 
work  with  Him  in  giving  them  to  others. 

For  then  we  have  eaten  His  flesh  and  drank  His  blood. 
and  they  have  entered  into  our  own,  and  have  become  our 


THE   CONSUMMATION.  361 

own  ;  our  own  flesh  and  our  own  blood  ;  ourselves,  from  in- 
most to  outermost. 

Far,  very  far  is  this  perfect  consummation  from  our  reach 
—  almost  from  our  conception.  But  let  us  imderstand  it  as 
clearly  as  we  can,  and  strive  to  approach  it.  We  need  do  no 
more ;  and  if  we  do  this  we  may  hope  for  every  thing. 


362  THE  APOSTLES. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

OF    THE    APOSTLES. 

Twelve  men  were  selected  from  the  earliest  disciples,  and 
"  sent  forth  "  by  our  Lord,  to  preach  His  Gospel.  And  from 
the  Greek  word  "  apostello,"  which  means  "  to  send  forth " 
comes  the  name  by  which  they  are  commonly  known. 

They  are  the  same  in  number  as  the  twelve  tribes  of  the 
children  of  Israel ;  and  this  similarity  in  number  is  founded 
upon  their  general  correspondence.  The  twelve  tribes  com- 
posed, as  a  whole,  the  Israelitish  nation ;  therefore,  as  a 
whole,  they  correspond  to  and  represent  a  church ;  and  sever- 
ally they  represent  and  correspond  to  distinctive  elements 
of  a  church  in  man,  or  of  goodness  and  truth  in  him  derived 
from  the  Lord,  and  known  and  acknowledged  to  be  so  derived. 
So  the  apostles  represent  and  correspond  as  a  whole  to  the 
Christian  Church,  and  severally  to  the  distinctive  elements  of 
human  character  which  constitute  a  church  in  man  ;  or  which 
must  be  the  means  by  which  the  church  enters  into  a  man ; 
or  again,  those  elements  of  character  which  being  regenerated 
the  whole  man  is  regenerate ;  or  again,  those  elements  of 
character,  of  thought,  belief  and  affection,  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  may  use  as  its  instruments,  and  send  them  forth  into 
the  mind,  the  heart  and  the  life,  to  penetrate  everywhere, 
and  overcome  all  obstacles,  and  by  their  testimony  instruct, 
and  by  their  influence  as  divine  instruments  regenerate,  the 
whole  man. 

Three  of  the  apostles  have  a  kind  of  headship ;  they  are 
often   mentioned   together ;   they   were   selected  to  witness 


PETEB,  JAMES,  AND  JOHN.  863 

together  some  of  the  most  interesting  events  in  our  Lord's 
life.  They  are  Peter,  James,  and  John  the  brother  of  James. 
Of  these  Peter  was  called  first ;  then  James  and  John  who 
are  spoken  of  as  "  companions  of  Peter ; "  and  at  a  later 
period,  the  others.  Our  Lord  "  took  Peter,  James  and  John 
his  brother,  and  bringeth  them  into  a  high  mountain  ajjart, 
and  was  transfigured  before  them."  Li  Gethsemane  "  He 
took  with  Him  Peter  and  the  two  sons  of  Zebedee  "  (James 
and  John),  and  there  they  witnessed  His  awful  sorrows.  He 
"  suffered  no  man  to  follow  Him,  save  Peter  and  James  and 
John  the  brother  of  James,"  when  He  entered  into  the  house 
of  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue  to  raise  to  life  the  daughter, 
lying  dead  there.  They  who  are  willing  to  believe  that  the 
words  of  Scripture  have  in  them  more  than  other  words,  should 
be  willing  to  know  what  such  facts  as  these,  so  distinctly  and 
repeatedly  stated,  are  intended  to  teach. 

Swedenborg  tells  us,  that  these  three  apostles,  or  rather  the 
things  which  these  three  correspond  to,  have  indeed  a  head- 
ship in  the  work  of  regenerating  man  and  building  the  church 
within  him ;  that  Peter  corresponds  to  and  represents  Faith, 
James  Charity  in  the  mind  and  intention,  or  in  the  will,  and 
John  "  his  brother "  Charity  in  act,  or  love  in  its  use  and  in 
its  life. 

Of  the  external  acts  of  James,  who  represents  only  an 
internal  state  of  mind,  not  yet  come  forth  into  external  ac- 
tivity and  manifestation,  we  should  not  expect  much  to  be 
said,  and  not  much  is  said.  Of  John  "his  brother,"  who 
represents  the  same  element  of  character  when  it  is  brought 
forth  into  the  life,  we  should  expect  and  we  should  find,  more 
to  be  said.  Of  Peter,  as  the  representative  of  Faith,  we  find 
more,  for  reasons  which  will  be  plain  to  us  in  proportion 
as  we  understand  the  need,  the  nature,  the  working  and  the 
power  of  Faith. 

K  in  the  facts  related  of  John  the  Baptist,  we  have  a 
history  and  presentation  of  Repentance  as  it  is  and  works  in 


364  FISHERS   OF  MEN. 

the  human  mind  and  character,  in  what  is  told  of  Peter  we 
have  a  vivid  exhibition  of  human  Faith ;  of  faith  in  its 
strength  and  in  its  weakness ;  in  its  hope  and  in  its  despair  ; 
in  its  failure  and  in  its  repentance.  Ready  to  walk  on  the 
sea  at  his  Master's  bidding,  but  when  the  wind  becomes  bois- 
terous, sinking  beneath  the  waves,  and  then  calling  as  with 
the  voice  of  despair,  "  O  Lord,  save  me."  At  one  time  de- 
claring "  Though  I  die  with  thee  yet  will  I  not  deny  thee," 
then,  when  the  peril  comes,  seeking  safety  in  "  I  know  not 
the  man,"  and  then  "remembering  the  word  of  the  Lord," 
weeping  bitterly.  At  one  time  declaring  the  central  truth  of 
all  truth,  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God," 
and  at  another  bringing  upon  himself  the  rebuke,  "  Get 
thee  behind  me,  Satan." 

Many  of  the  apostles  were  fishermen  ;  and  the  meaning  of 
this  circumstance  is  perhaps  sufficiently  indicated  by  the 
promise  of  our  Lord  to  make  them  fishers  of  men.  Of  the 
symbolism  of  water  and  its  inhabitants  I  have  already  spoken. 
The  apostles  were  to  be  "  fishers  of  men ; "  but  the  con- 
ditions of  their  success  in  this  higher  kind  of  fishing  are 
clearly  stated,  first  in  the  5th  chapter  of  Luke,  and  then  in  the 
2l8t  chapter  of  John. 

1  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  the  people  pressed  upon  him  to  hear 
the  word  of  God,  lie  stood  by  the  lake  of  Gennesaret, 

2  And  saw  two  sliips  standing  by  the  lake  :  but  the  fishermen  were 
gone  out  of  them,  and  were  washing  their  nets. 

3  And  he  entered  into  one  of  the  ships,  which  was  Simon's,  and 
prayed  him  that  he  would  thrust  out  a  little  from  the  land.  And  he 
Bat  down,  and  taught  the  people  out  of  the  ship. 

4  Now,  when  he  had  left  speaking,  he  said  unto  Simon,  Launch  out 
into  the  deep,  and  let  down  your  nets  for  a  draught. 

6  And  Simon  answering,  said  unto  him,  Master,  we  have  toiled  all 
the  nigiit,  and  have  taken  nothing ;  nevertheless,  at  thy  word  I  will 
let  down  the  net. 

6  And  when  tliey  had  this  done,  they  enclosed  a  great  multitude 
of  fishes ;  and  their  net  brake. 

7  And  they  beckoned  unto  their  partners,  which  were  in  the  other 


AT  THY  WORD,  365 

ship,  that  they  should  come  and  help  tliem.    And  they  came,  and 
filled  both  the  ships,  so  that  they  began  to  sink. 

8  When  Simon  Peter  saw  it,  he  fell  down  at  Jesus'  knees,  saying, 
Depart  from  me ;  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  0  Lord. 

9  For  he  was  astonished,  and  all  that  were  with  him,  at  tlie 
draught  of  the  fishes  which  tliey  had  taken : 

10  And  so  was  also  James  and  John  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  whicli 
were  partners  with  Simon.  And  Jesus  said  imto  Simon,  Fear  not : 
from  henceforth  thou  shalt  catch  men. 

11  And  when  they  had  brought  their  ships  to  land,  they  forsook  all, 
and  followed  him.  —  Lcke  v.  1-11. 

They  had  toiled  all  the  night,  —  in  darkness,  —  and  had 
caught  nothing.  But  our  Lord  came,  and  commanded  them 
to  launch  out  into  the  deep  and  let  down  their  nets  for  a 
di'auglit.  Simon  answered  that  they  had  toiled  all  the  night 
and  their  toil  was  fruitless,  "nevertheless  at  Thy  word,  I 
(Faith,  believing  and  trusting  the  word)  will  let  down  the 
net ; "  and  then  they  were  astonished  at  the  multitude  of 
fishes  which  they  caught.  And  when  in  after  days,  they 
launched  out  into  that  great  deep,  the  world,  what  other  ex- 
planation can  be  given  of  their  marvellous  success,  excepting 
that  now  they  were  His  servants,  toiling  "  at  His  word,"  and 
His  power  went  with  them. 

But  in  the  last  chapter  of  John,  another  condition  is 
added. 

3  Simon  Peter  saith  unto  them,  I  go  a  fishing.  They  say  unto 
him.  We  also  go  with  thee.  They  went  forth,  and  entered  into  a  ship 
immediately  ;  and  that  night  they  caught  nothing. 

4  But  when  the  morning  was  now  come,  Jesus  stood  on  the  shore ; 
but  the  disciples  knew  not  that  it  was  Jesus. 

5  Then  Jesus  saith  unto  them.  Children,  have  ye  any  meat  ?  They 
answered  him.  No. 

6  And  he  said  unto  them.  Cast  the  net  on  the  right  side  of  the 
ship,  and  ye  shall  find.  They  cast  therefore,  and  now  they  were  not 
able  to  draw  it  for  the  multitude  of  fishes.  —  John  xxi.  3-6. 

They  said,  as  before,  they  had  toiled  through  the  night  and 
caught  nothing.    But  morning  came,  and  our  Lord  came  with 


366  THE  RIGHT  SIDE   OF  THE  SHIP. 

it ;  for  it  is  His  coming  which  brings  morning  to  the  spirit. 
They  told  Him  as  before,  how  ineffectual  their  labors  through 
the  darkness  had  been.  And  He  then  commanded  them  "  to 
let  down  the  net  on  the  right  side  of  the  ship ; "  and  as 
before,  they  obeyed  Him,  and  caught  multitudes. 

This  is  the  eternal  law ;  they  who  would  catch  multitudes 
of  men,  as  fishers  in  His  service,  must  act  from  and  apj^eal  to 
love,  good,  and  the  affections  of  the  soul ;  for  truth  alone  can 
do  nothing.  Throughout  the  Scriptures  "  right "  and  "  left " 
are  related  to  each  other  as  good  and  truth,  or  as  things  of 
the  affections  and  things  of  the  understanding.  And  wher- 
ever these  words  occur  they  have  this  representation  and 
meaning.  We  have  already  referred  to  this  in  the  chapter  on 
the  spiritual  world.  "When  the  Son  of  Man  separated  be- 
tween the  sheep  and  the  goats,  he  set  on  His  right  hand, 
them  who  had  lived  the  life  of  charity,  and  on  His  left  hand 
them  who  called  themselves  His  servants ;  but  who  had  never 
learned  from  Him,  that  He  offers  himself  to  become  the 
object  of  love  and  kindness  in  all  who  need  love  and  kind- 
ness ;  and  therefore  while  these  claimed  to  be  of  His  flock, 
they  had  truth  only,  and  neither  loved  nor  did  what  the  truth 
commanded.  They  could  say,  "  Lord  when  saw  we  thee  an 
hungered,  or  athirst,  or  a  stranger,  or  naked,  or  sick  or  in 
prison,  and  did  not  minister  unto  thee  ?  And  he  answered, 
Verily  I  say  unto  you,  inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  to  one  of  the 
least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  unto  me.  And  these  shall  go 
away  into  everlasting  punishment." 

24  But  the  ship  was  now  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  tossed  with 
waves  :  for  the  wind  was  contrary. 

26  And  in  the  fourth  watch  of  the  night  Jesus  went  unto  them, 
walking  on  the  sea. 

26  And  when  the  disciples  saw  him  walking  on  the  sea,  they  were 
troubled,  saying,  It  is  a  spirit ;  and  they  cried  out  for  fear. 

27  But  straightway  Jesus  spake  unto  them,  saying,  Be  of  good 
cheer ;  it  is  I ;  be  not  afraid. 


FAJTE  FAILING.  367 

28  And  Peter  answered  him,  and  said,  Lord,  if  it  be  thou,  bid  me 
come  unto  tliee  on  the  water. 

29  And  he  said,  Come.  And  when  Peter  was  come  down  out  of 
the  ship,  he  walked  on  the  water,  to  go  to  Jesus. 

30  But  wlien  he  saw  the  wind  boisterous,  he  was  afraid ;  and,  begin- 
ning to  sink,  lie  cried,  saying,  Lord,  save  me. 

31  And  immediately  Jesus  stretched  forth  his  hand,  and  caught 
him,  and  said  imto  him,  0  thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst  tliou 
doubt  ? 

32  And  when  they  were  come  into  the  ship,  the  wind  ceased. 

38  Then  they  that  were  in  the  ship  came  and  worshipped  him, 
saying,  Of  a  truth  thou  art  the  Son  of  God.  —  Matt.  xiv.  24-33. 

We  have  here  a  vivid  picture  of  Faith  asserting  itself,  and 
venturing  upon  peril  and  temptation ;  but  in  the  hour  of 
danger  and  distress,  failing ;  and  then  of  the  divine  assistance, 
"stretching  forth  its  hand"  or  imparting  its  own  strength, 
and  the  little  faith  becomes  more,  doubt  is  rebuked,  and 
trouble  ceases,  and  they  who  are  thus  saved  worship  their 
Saviour  as  the  Son  of  God. 

Fearful  indeed,  and  beyond  all  mere  human  strength,  may 
be  the  perils  and  temptations  of  those  who  listen  to  His  call, 
and  strive  to  walk  through  the  strait  and  narrow  path 
which  leadeth  unto  life.  Whatever  Faith  they  have,  it  wiU. 
always  be  true  of  them  as  it  was  of  Him  who  represented 
Faith,  that  Satan,  or  evil  and  false  influences,  desire  and 
endeavor  to  gain  the  mastery  over  them,  "  that  he  may  sift 
them  as  wheat." 

81  And  the  Lord  said,  Simon,  Simon,  behold,  Satan  hath  desired  to 
have  you,  tliat  he  may  sift  you  as  wheat : 

32  But  I  have  prayed  for  thee,  that  thy  iaith  fail  not :  and  when 
thou  art  converted,  strengthen  thy  brethren.  —  Luke  xxii.  31,  32. 

And  it  is  of  our  Father's  wisdom  and  mercy,  that  these 
assaults  are  not  prevented,  but  are  made  to  sift  away  the 
chaff  that  the  good  wheat  within  their  hearts  may  be  gathered 
into  His  garner.  And  then  they  become  His  instruments, 
and  "  strengthen  their  brethren."     To  them  who  have  Faith, 


368  FAITH  RATIONAL. 

and  who  know  its  work,  its  power  and  its  blessedness,  the 
command  is  given,  which  was  thrice  solemnly  repeated  by 
our  Lord,  as  His  last  command  to  Peter,  "  Feed  my 
sheep.     Feed  them  with  my  truth." 

But  Faith,  however  earnest,  even  to  enthusiasm,  should 
yet  be  rational,  cautious  not  to  do  harm  by  giving  needless 
offence,  and  very  careful  to  discover  and  discharge  the  whole 
duty  which  the  highest  spirituality  always  owes,  to  the 
external,  practical,  social  and  political  relations  of  life.  This 
lesson  is  taught  not  only  by  the  texts  in  which  our  Lord 
instructs  us  to  acknowledge  the  image  and  superscription  of 
Caesar  (who  stands  as  the  impersonation  and  representative 
of  all  earthly  power),  in  all  those  things  upon  which  it  is 
lawfully  placed,  and  to  render  unto  Caesar  the  things  which 
belong  to  him,  but  in  the  passage  in  which  he  commands 
Peter  to  take  a  fish  (if  what  has  been  said  repeatedly  of 
water  and  of  fish  be  remembered,  it  will  be  seen  that  "  a  fish  " 
here  represents  natural  and  external  truth,  which  com- 
mands and  preserves  natural  and  external  order  among  men), 
and  find  in  his  mouth  (or  in  the  instruction  of  that  truth) 
a  piece  of  money,  and  give  it  to  them  whose  duty  it  was  to 
gather  the  public  tribute. 

No  passages  concerning  Peter  have  exercised  a  more  im- 
portant influence,  or  contain  a  more  important  meaning, 
than  those  in  which  our  Lord  calls  him  a  Rock,  and  declares 
that  upon  this  rock.  His  church  is  founded. 

The  original  name  of  Peter  was  Simon,  which  is  a  Hebrew 
(or  Chaldaic)  word,  meaning  "  hearer."  This  was  his  name, 
because  Faith  must  begin  with  hearing,  and  is  a  true 
Faith  when  it  hears  with  the  heart,  with  a  love  of  the  truth 
for  the  sake  of  the  good  which  it  teaches  and  leads  to ;  and 
this  love  roots  the  truth  in  the  heart,  for  then  the  truth  be- 
comes Faith,  and  a  Rock. 

He  was  also  called  Cephas ;  "  And  when  Jesus  beheld  him, 
He  said  unto  him,  Thou  art  Simon  the  son  of  Jona ;  thou 


THE  CHRIST.  869 

shalt  be  called  Cephas,  which  is  by  interpretation,  a  stone." 
Jona  is  a  Hebrew  name  —  the  shortened  form  of  Johanan  — 
and  means  the  "  gift  of  God."  And  only  as  the  gift  of  God 
can  a  true  and  living  faith  be  received  by  man.  Cephas 
means  a  stone,  and  is  a  Hebrew  word  signifying  a  stone  or 
Rock ;  Peter  being  but  the  English  form  of  the  Greek  word 
Petros,  which  has  precisely  the  same  meaning.  This  has 
passed  into  our  language  and  we  find  it  in  such  words  as 
"  petrified." 

In  the  system  of  the  universe  all  things  of  the  outer  home 
of  man  must  correspond  to  the  inner  things  either  of  the 
will,  or  of  the  understanding,  for  these  together  compose 
the  whole  of  his  mind.  Solids  in  the  complex  correspond  to 
things  of  the  will,  as  liquids  to  things  of  the  understanding ; 
but  again  the  same  distinction  runs  through  each  of  these 
great  classes ;  and  as  some  liquids,  —  as  oil  and  milk,  corre- 
spond to  things  of  afiection,  so  among  solids,  Rocks  correspond 
to  some  things  of  the  understanding ;  to  truths  crystallized, 
made  firm  and  massive,  fixed  and  established  in  the  mind  by 
the  love  of  those  truths,  and  thus  fitted  to  be  the  abiding 
foundation-stones,  or  corner-stones,  of  whatever  structure  of 
belief  may  be  built  upon  them. 

13.  When  Jesus  came  into  the  coasts  of  Cesarea  Philippi,  he  asked 
his  disciples,  saying,  Whom  do  men  say  that  I,  the  Son  of  man,  am  1 

14.  And  they  said.  Some  say  that  thou  art  John  the  Baptist ;  some, 
Elias  ;  and  others,  Jeremias,  or  one  of  the  prophets. 

15.  He  saith  unto  them,  But  whom  say  ye  that  I  am  ? 

16.  And  Simon  Peter  answered  and  said.  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  the  living  God. 

17.  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Blessed  art  thou, 
Simon  Bar-jona  :  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee, 
but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

18.  And  I  say  also  unto  thee.  That  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this 
rock  I  will  build  my  church  :  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  it. 

19.  And  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven ; 
and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on  earth,  shall  be  bound  in  •  heaveB':. 

24 


370  WEAT  IS  PETER,    THE  ROCK. 

and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth,  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven.  — 
Matt.  xvi.  13-19. 

What  is  Peter,  what  is  the  Rock  upon  which  the  Lord  haa 
builded  His  church,  against  which  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not 
j)revail.  Not  Peter  the  man ;  that  is  impossible ;  not  the 
personal  successors  of  Peter  whom  the  church  when  it  had 
become  Babylon  (or  corrupted  by  the  selfish  love  of  dominion), 
endeavored  to  maintain  as  the  corner-stone  of  their  own  power ; 
but  Peter  as  Faith  in  the  Truth  he  had  just  uttered. 

"  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God." 

And  this  truth  is  the  foundation-stone,  the  corner-stone  of 
Christ's  church.  While  it  was  a  living  truth  with  the  church, 
that  church  was  immovable  and  impregnable.  But  the 
corruptions  of  human  nature  assailed  this  truth ;  devices  and 
traditions  of  men  robbed  it  of  its  simplicity  and  reality; 
and  at  last  it  is  denied  openly  by  a  large  portion  of  those  who 
call  themselves  Christians,  or  made  to  bear  a  meaning  which 
is  worse  than  a  denial. 

So  has  it  been  with  the  church  at  large ;  so  is  it  and  must 
it  be  with  the  church  in  every  individual  man.  Where  that 
truth  lives,  where  it  is  held  in  reverent  and  honest  acceptance, 
there  is  the  foundation  of  the  church,  and  against  the  church 
that  rests  on  this  Rock,  the  gates  of  hell  within  the  mind,  all 
those  falsities  and  fallacies  through  which  influences  of  hell 
seek  and  find  admittance,  shall  not  prevail  against  it.  The 
combat  may  be  sore,  and  long,  and  carried  on  in  great  dark- 
ness. But  if  this  truth  is  living  there,  the  gates  of  hell  shall 
not  prevail  against  it.  "Blessed  art  thou  Simon  son  of 
Jona ; "  blessed  is  the  God-given  faith  in  this  truth ;  and 
upon  it  must  descend  the  blessing  of  goodness  and  of 
peace. 

"Flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee;"  for 
flesh  and  blood  or  the  mere  nature  of  man  cannot  reveal  it ; 
but  they  can  do  much,  and  they  are  sure  to  do  all  they  can, 


THE  DISGUISE   OF  NATURALISM.  371 

to  prevent  its  acceptance,  to  hinder  and  cloud  and  distort  this 
truth. 

How  hard  it  is  to  receive  this  truth  in  its  own  simplicity 
and  its  own  fulness.  It  is  not  merely  gross  and  vulgar 
infidelity  which  denies  it ;  it  is  not  merely  a  sensuous  ration- 
ality which  in  its  proud  belief  of  its  ability  to  comprehend  all 
things  denies  whatever  it  cannot  fully  comj)rehend,  and 
bailds  up  with  vast  ingenuity  and  a  poisonous  plausibility  its 
fabric  of  fallacy.  There  is  also  a  naturalism  which  assumes  a 
thick  disguise  and  is  unconscious  of  its  disguise.  There  are 
those  who  are  pure  in  life,  benevolent  in  act,  watchful  in  the 
discharge  of  duty  and  in  all  offices  of  love  and  kindness  ;  and 
think  themselves  to  be  so  good,  they  cannot  believe  that 
Christ  was  the  Son  of  God,  in  any  sense  which  makes  Him 
more  than  they  can  be.  They  are  satisfied  with  what  they 
are  or  are  becoming  by  their  own  efforts  and  their  own 
strength ;  they  can  see  no  necessity  for  the  stupendous 
miracle  of  God  becoming  man.  They  cannot  see  their  own 
need  of  a  Saviour;  and  therefore  they  cannot  see  their 
Saviour. 

Most  painful  would  it  be,  not  to  hope,  not  to  believe,  that 
holy  influences  are  yet  living  and  working  within  such  minds, 
and  will  open  their  eyes  hereafter,  that  they  may  see  Him  in 
heaven  as  the  Son  of  God.  "  Flesh  and  blood  hath  not  re- 
vealed it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 

And  His  Father  is  in  the  perpetual  effort  to  reveal  it,  to  all 
who  are  willing  to  see  it ;  to  all  who  are  not  unwilling  or  are 
unable,  because  their  eyes  are  closed  and  sealed  by  that  love 
of  self,  which  is  as  inexhaustible  in  the  variety  and  number 
of  its  forms  as  it  is  insidious  in  its  approach  and  its  influence. 
But  "  No  man  can  come  to  me  unless  the  Father  draw  him  ; " 
not  unless  the  Divine  Love,  received  into  his  own  mind,  draw 
him  to  seek  and  receive  the  Divine  Wisdom ;  not  unless  a 
love  of  goodness  draw  him  to  the  truth. 

Our  Lord  also  said  to  Peter  in  this  connection,  "  I  will 


372  THE   TRUTH  HAS  MADE   US  FUSE. 

give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  and 
whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven, 
and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in 
heaven." 

On  these  has  rested  for  many  centuries  the  claim  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  to  hold  the  souls  of  men  in  bondage. 
And  how  is  this  claim  cast  down,  this  fatal  tyranny  destroyed, 
when  we  know  the  true  meaning  of  these  words.  For  then 
we  know  that  they  have  no  reference  whatever  to  persons  or 
to  personal  office ;  neither  to  Peter  nor  to  Peter's  successors, 
nor  to  any  priesthood  of  any  church.  For  they  mean  that  it 
is  this  Truth,  that  it  is  the  faith  we  have  in  this  truth,  which 
is  the  key  to  heaven,  and  which  binds  and  looses  on  earth 
and  in  heaven.  For  whenever  this  is  held  and  in  the  de- 
gree in  which  it  is  held,  —  "  The  truth  has  made  us  free ; " 
and  wherever  it  is  rejected  and-  despised,  or  made  of  no  effect 
by  interpretations  which  take  out  its  life,  —  we  are  bound 
by  the  powers  of  darkness. 

When  these  three  disciples  are  together;  and  together 
with  Christ,  or  united  and  vivified  by  His  Holy  Spirit,  if 
they  go  with  him  into  the  house  and  chamber  of  death, 
they  see  there  resurrection ;  death  becomes  but  a  step  in  life 
and  even  the  spiritually  dead  may  be  raised  into  spiritual  life. 
"And  he  suffered  no  man  to  follow  Him  save  Peter,  and 
James  and  John,"  when  he  entered  into  the  house  of  Jainis 
and  restored  his  daughter  to  life. 

And  they  in  whose  minds  these  three  are  united,  are  prepared 
to  follow  Christ  up  into  a  mountain  apart ;  to  ascend,  led  by 
His  influence,  into  a  state  which  is  lifted  far  above  the  low 
levels  of  common  life ;  and  there  they  see  the  kingdom  of 
God  come  with  power.  For  He  is  transfigured  before  them, 
His  face  shines  as  the  sun ;  and  they  see  Him  as  the  sun,  the 
centre  and  the  source  of  being  to  all  that  is.  His  raiment 
consists  of  the  truths  accommodated  to  our  weakness  and 
our  necessities,  with  which  he  clothes  His  infinite  wisdom ; 


MOUNTAINS.  373 

and  to  those  who  ascend  this  "  high  mountain,"  led  by  him, 
and  with  these  companions,  these  truths  become  white  as 
light  itself.  This  light  shines  out  from  His  Word ;  and 
Moses  and  Elias,  or  the  law  and  the  prophets  are  with  Him 
and  testifying  of  Him.  And  then  from  the  bright  cloud 
that  surrounds  and  overshadows  them,  or  from  the  love  and 
wisdom  which  they  see  filling  the  universe  but  always  incom- 
prehensible in  its  infinity  by  created  intellect,  —  from  this 
cloud  a  voice  comes  to  them,  the  certainty  comes  to  them, 
that  He  is  the  Son  of  God ;  the  son,  the  embodiment,  the 
fulness,  of  the  Infinite  Father. 

And  before  the  unspeakable  glory  of  this  Truth  as  they 
see  it  then,  they  faint,  and  fall  on  their  face,  and  are  sore 
afraid ;  for  their  own  life  seems  to  them  as  perishing,  as  noth- 
ing. But  He  comes  and  touches  them,  and  bids  them  fear 
no  more.* 

The  apostles  came  down  from  the  mountain ;  and  they 
who  climb  the  sides  of  this  mountain  must  soon  return  to  the 
plane  of  common  life  and  conMnon  duty,  for  there  their  work 
must  be  done. 

Let  me  pause  to  say  a  word  about  mountains  which  are 
so  often  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures.  Their  general  sym- 
bolism is  obvious.  They  rise  above  the  common  level  of 
the  earth ;  and  they  represent  states  of  mind  when  that 
is  lifted  above  the  common  level  of  the  life.     He  who  knows 


*  In  the  account  of  the  Transfiguration  in  Luke  ix.  ver.  32,  in  our  re- 
ceived English  translation,  there  is  a  strange  mistake.  It  is  said  "  But  Peter 
and  the}'  that  were  with  him  were  heavy  with  sleep ;  and  when  they  were 
awake  they  saw  his  glory;  "  leaving  it  to  be  supposed  that  during  a  part  oi' 
this  scene  they  were  asleep.  But  there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the 
Greek  word  means,  not,  "when  they  were  awake,"  but  "kept  themselves 
awake."  That  the  word  has  this  meaning  is  certain  not  merely  from  its 
derivation,  but  from  its, use  in  this  sense,  elsewhere,  as  in  Mark  xiii.  and 
other  texts  where  it  is  translated  "  watch."  The  Latin  Vulgate  has  "  evigl- 
lassent." 


374  SINAI  AND   GENNESABET. 

nothing  of  this,  has  not  yet  learned  that  it  is  possible 
to  stand  for  a  moment  on  summits  of  thought  or  feeling 
which  are  too  lofty  to  be  our  abiding  home  ;  —  has  not  found 
that  even  in  this  life  there  may  be  hours  when  a  foretaste  of  a 
future  elevation  comes  to  console  and  to  encourage.  As  often 
as  mountains  are  mentioned  in  the  word,  they  are  so  mentioned 
that  they  give  to  us  lessons  that  may  go  down  with  refresh- 
ment into  our  common  work,  as  the  streams  which  run  down 
the  hillsides  bear  life  and  fertility  to  the  plains  at  their  feet. 

The  Law  was  given  to  the  children  of  Israel  from  the 
summit  of  Sinai.  There  stood  Jehovah,  on  a  height  inacces- 
sible to  human  footsteps  ;  there  in  his  own  unbearable  glory, 
and  thunders  and  lightnings  attested  His  presence.  "And 
all  the  people  saw  the  thunderings,  and  the  lightnings,  and  the 
noise  of  the  trumpet,  and  the  mountain  smoking ;  and  when 
the  people  saw,  they  removed  and  stood  afar  off. "  Only 
through  Moses,  who  himself  could  approach  Jehovah  only 
by  entering  into  a  cloud  and  was  then  invisible  to  all  below, 
only  so  did  He  speak  to  them. 

But  time  passed ;  rather,  the  fulness  of  time  came ;  and 
another  law  was  given ;  and  this  also  was  given  from  a 
mountain.  "  And  seeing  the  multitudes  He  went  up  into 
a  mountain."  But  this  time  the  Son  of  God  stood  upon  a 
hill  near  Gennesaret ;  a  hill  which  travellers  to  this  day 
speak  of  as  combining  in  its  attractive  loveliness  all  the 
elements  of  beauty.  There  He  stood,  and  gathered  His 
hearers  about  Him.  He  climbed  no  higher  than  they  could 
follow,  and  invited  their  approach.  He  spoke  from  above,  to 
them  below ;  but  He  was  not  so  far  above  that  He  could  not 
be  plainly  seen  and  heard.  And  no  thunder  or  lightning 
were  there,  to  mingle  their  terrors  with  the  gracious  words 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount ;  such  words  as  "  never  man 
spake." 

And  now  another  law  is  given.  And  this  too  is  given 
from  a  mountain.     But  now,  from  a  mountain  only  of  the 


TO  WHOM  GOD  IS  A  ODD  OF  TERROR.        375 

spirit.  It  could  be  given  us  only  through  a  mind  lifted  in 
affection  and  in  thought,  in  love  and  in  wisdom,  far  above  the 
common  level  of  these  days.  And  it  is  given  and  can  be 
given  only  to  those  who  endeavor  to  approach  this  mountain 
by  a  corresponding  elevation  of  character,  or  by  an  effort,  at 
least,  thus  to  place  themselves  where  they  can  hear  and  learn, 
and  receive  into  their  minds  these  new  gifts. 

Whence  these  diversities  in  that  which  is,  in  its  essence, 
one  ?  Because,  while  in  its  essence  it  is  one,  in  its  forms  it 
is  many.  For  in  its  forms  it  is  always  limited  and  adapted, 
by  perfect  wisdom,  to  the  times  and  their  needs  and  possibili- 
ties. 

The  Law  was  given  from  Sinai  to  the  most  merely  natural 
race  of  men  that  ever  lived.  That  naturalness  belongs  to  all 
and  always  will ;  but  it  is  not  in  all  men  all  that  they  have.  To 
all  men  in  all  ages  the  Law  of  Sinai  is  to  be  a  law,  and  the 
Law  of  God.  But  only  to  those  who  are  wholly  natural  and 
nothing  more,  is  it  given  only  in  its  literal  sense ;  and  for 
them  was  this  literal  sense  permitted  and  is  now  permitted  to 
close  around  the  spiritual  sense  in  clouds  so  thick  that  no  ray 
of  the  light  within  can  pass  through  them. 

To  them  He  seems,  because  it  is  well  that  to  them  He 
should  seem,  a  God  of  terror.  From  afar  in  His  distant 
heaven  he  scatters  his  lightnings  and  speaks  in  thunder,  and 
invests  His  Commandments  with  all  the  force  they  derive 
from  threat  and  promise  and  the  exhibition  of  absolute  power. 
They  can  be  made  to  obey,  but  in  the  spirit  of  obedience 
only  :  only  from  fear ;  and  well  is  it  for  them,  that  even  this 
may  be  the  fear  which  is  "  the  beginning  of  wisdom." 

Then  came  our  Lord.  He  bowed  the  heavens  and  came 
down^  to  change  the  waters  of  purification  of  the  Jews  into 
the  wine  of  the  Gospel ;  to  elevate  natural  truth  and  law 
into  spiritual  truth  and  law.  He  came  to  give  to  men  new 
truth ;  truth  which  could  be  given  only  to  them  to  whom  He 
could  draw  very  neax",  and  who  could  draw  near  to  Him. 


376  THE  LAW  OF  LOVE. 

And  now  another  law  is  given.  If  the  first  was  a  law  of 
command  and  terror,  and  the  second  a  law  of  instruction  and 
truth,  the  third  is  a  law  of  love.  And  as  the  law  of  com- 
mand and  terror  proceeded  from  infinite  love,  and  sought  and 
seeks  to  do  its  work  of  mercy,  by  instruction  adapted  to  them 
to  whom  it  was  and  is  given ;  and  as  the  law  of  truth  con- 
firmed all  the  instruction  given  before  while  it  disclosed  new 
truth  lying  within  "  what  was  said  of  old  time,"  like  a  soul 
within  the  body  of  the  old,  so  the  law  now  given,  while  it  is 
only  a  law  of  love,  is  so  because  it  shows  that  and  how  the 
former  dispensations  were  but  the  work,  the  expression  and 
the  gift,  of  perfect  love.  .  It  leaves  the  force  of  the  first  law 
not  merely  unimpaired  but  invigorated.  It  accepts  all  the 
instruction  of  the  second,  and  makes  it  warm  with  the  love 
and  luminous  with  the  wisdom  from  which  it  came. 

Its  truth  is  not,  in  one  sense,  now  first  given ;  for  it  came 
to  earth  before,  clothed  in  those  earlier  revelations ;  clothed 
in  garments  which  not  only  covered  its  body  but  veiled  its 
face.  For  until  now,  "  this  veil  has  been  spread  over  all 
nations."  Now  it  is  lifted.  And  this  consummating  dis- 
closure tells  us,  in  this  first  and  feeble  beginning,  and  will 
tell  more  plainly  to  future  generations  when  our  morning 
twilight  shall  grow  into  the  fulness  of  day,  that  all  its  in- 
struction is  but  a  part  of  an  infinite  whole ;  of  Divine  Wis- 
dom itself;  which  in  all  these  ages  has  stood  on  earth  in  the 
Word  of  God. 

The  work  which  we  have  to  do  in  common  life  is  a  long 
and  painful  conflict  with  the  evil  within  and  without  us. 
Not  an  unintermitted  conflict ;  for  it  is  broken  by  intervals 
of  victory  and  peace  and  joy.  But  it  is  long  and  painful,  for 
our  enemies  are  many  and  strong.  And  again  these  three 
apostles  were  called  together,  to  witness  an  agony  of  conflict 
with  evil,  as  far  surpar^sing  the  endurance  or  the  conception 
of  any  human  nature  but  that  within  which  was  the  fulness 


GETHSEMANE.  377 

of  the  Godhead,  as  the  mountain  summit  of  transfiguration 
is  above  all  merely  human  experience. 

They  were  called  to  witness  the  agony  in  Gethsemane. 

These  three  apostles  were  witnessess  of  this  agony.  And 
when  Faith,  Charity  in  the  mind  and  Charity  in  life  are 
united,  the  eye  of  the  spirit  is  opened  to  catch  a  dim  and  im- 
perfect glimpse  of  the  tremendous  antagonism  between  evil 
and  good ;  an  antagonism  known  in  its  fulness  only  to  the 
Sinless  One,  who  for  our  sakes  endured  this  agony,  fought 
this  battle  between  life  and  death,  and  won  the  victory. 
Known  in  its  ftdness  only  to  Him ;  but  known  in  a  lesser 
measure  to  every  man  who  walks  a  step  forward  in  the  path 
which  the  conflict  and  the  victory  of  Christ  have  opened  to 
each  in  his  own  measure  and  as  he  may  bear  it. 

There  is  one  other  of  the  apostles,  Thomas,  to  whom  I 
would  refer. 

"VYe  know  that  Dan,  among  the  tribes,  had  a  home  in  the 
extreme  northern  boundary  of  the  Holy  Land ;  whence  the 
phrase  "  from  Dan  to  Beersheba."  He  may  stand  as  the  re- 
presentative of  the  sensuous  principle  of  the  human  mind. 

When  Jacob  was  about  to  die,  he  "  called  unto  his  sons, 
and  said,  Gather  yourselves  together,  that  I  may  tell  you  that 
which  shall  befall  you  in  the  last  days."  And  of  Dan  he  says, 
"  Dan  shall  judge  his  people,  as  one  of  the  tribes  of  Israel. 
Dan  shall  be  a  serpent  in  the  path,  an  adder  in  the  way,  that 
biteth  the  heels  of  the  horse,  so  that  his  rider  shall  fall  back- 
ward." 

This  sensuous  principle  must  indeed  "judge  his  people  ;  " 
but  should  "judge  them  as  one  of  the  tribes  of  Israel."  In 
all  things  within  its  true  scope  and  range  it  is  a  final  judge, 
useful  and  indispensable  when  it  keeps  in  its  own  place  and 
does  its  proper  work.  If  it  be  absent  from  the  mind  or 
silent,  enthusiasm  and  fantasy  prevail.  But  the  senses  should 
serve  and  not  command  the  higher  reason  ;  the  body  should 
be  the  servant  of  the  soul  and  not  its  master.     In  "  the  last 


378  THE   RIVER  FALLETH  BACKWARDS. 

days"  what  is  Dan?  And  first,  what  are  the  last  days? 
They  are  those  which  come  at  the  close  of  a  dispensation  or 
church ;  for  every  dispensation  of  religious  truth  is  so  far 
committed  to  the  freedom  of  man,  that  it  may  be  abused, 
falsified  and  perverted ;  and  then  it  comes  to  an  end  and  a 
new  dispensation  is  given.  We  live  in  "  the  last  days "  of 
the  first  Christian  Church ;  and  one  of  the  signs  of  it  is,  that 
Dan  is  now  "  a  serpent  in  the  way,  an  adder  in  the  path." 
The  serpent,  among  animals,  corresponds  to  this  sensuous 
principle ;  for  he  cannot  leave  the  earth,  nor  stand  upright 
upon  it ;  but  on  it  he  is  active,  agile  and  strong ;  and  his  food 
is,  not  literally  but  spiritually,  "  the  dust  of  the  earth."  And 
now  this  sensuous  principle  is  a  serpent  and  a  venomous  ser- 
pent in  the  paths  of  truth,  or  those  paths  the  mind  must 
tread,  if  it  would  go  from  knowledge  to  knowledge  and  ad- 
vance in  wisdom.  The  horse  is  the  animal  by  which  man  is 
drawn  or  borne  along  the  paths  of  the  earth,  and  it  represents 
throughout  the  Scriptures  the  faculty  of  the  understand- 
ing by  which  the  mind  advances  in  intellectual  paths.  And 
now  this  serpent,  this  adder,  "  biteth  the  heels  of  the  horse ; " 
it  poisons  the  understanding  wherever  it  comes  in  contact 
with  the  earth,  or  contemplates  external  things  and  seeks  to 
comprehend  them.  It  so  poisons  the  mind  that  the  external 
rules  the  internal ;  the  senses  and  sensuous  thought  govern 
the  mind,  and  cloud  or  expel  all  belief  in  things  higher  than 
sense.  What  is  the  inevitable  consequence?  "The  rider 
falleth  backwards." 

Thomas  may  be  taken  as  the  representative  of  this  sen- 
suous principle.  In  each  of  the  first  three  Gospels,  he  is 
enumerated  among  the  apostles  and  nothing  more  is  said  of 
him.  In  John  more  is  said.  When  Lazarus  was  dead, 
"  then  said  Thomas  unto  his  fellow  disciples.  Let  us  go,  that 
we  may  die  with  him."  And  so  always  says  this  sensuous 
principle.  We  may  die  with  the  dead  ;  we  can  do  no  more ; 
for  in  death  is  an  end  of  all  life  and  being.     The  thought 


THOMAS   THE   UNBELIEVING.  379 

that  Jesus  might  raise  from  the  dead  him  whom  he  loved, 
did  not  occur  to  him. 

Then,  when  Jesus,  having  risen  from  the  grave,  appeared 
to  the  disciples,  "  Thomas,  one  of  the  twelve,  was  not  with 
them  when  Jesus  came.  The  other  disciples  therefore  said 
unto  him.  We  have  seen  the  Lord.  But  he  said  unto  them, 
Except  I  shall  see  in  his  hands  the  print  of  his  nails,  and  put 
my  finger  into  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  thrust  my  hand  into 
his  side,  /  will  not  believe."  Thomas  was  not  with  them,  for 
to  this  sensuous  principle  He  cannot  directly  rise;  it  can 
know  a  truth  like  this  only  from  higher  principles ;  only 
when  "  the  other  disciples  teU  him  they  have  seen  the  Lord ; " 
and  it  is  willing  and  able  to  trust  to  them.  Thomas  was  not. 
Even  if  he  himself  sees,  he  will  not  believe,  for  he  must  touch. 
For  sight  corresponds  to  perceptions  and  touch  to  merely 
sensuous  knowledge ;  and  they  in  whom  this  sensuous  priu- 
ciple  is  wilful  and  dominant  can  have  no  perceptions  of  highei 
truth. 

Is  he  then  left,  abandoned  to  his  unbelief?  Infinite  mercy 
comes  to  each  one  where  he  is,  to  help  him  if  he  can  be 
helped.  Our  Lord  came  again  to  his  disciples  ;  and  this  time 
Thomas  was  with  them.  "  Then  saith  he  to  Thomas,  Reach 
hither  thy  finger  and  behold  my  hands  ;  and  reach  hither  thy 
hand  and  thrust  it  into  my  side  ;  and  be  not  faithless  but  be- 
lieving. 

And  then  came  the  question  of  life  or  death.  Can  Thomas 
now  believe  ?  Will  he  say,  "  Yes  it  is  you,  but  you  have 
never  died,  and  we  were  aU  mistaken  there."  For  this  is 
what  this  sensuous  principle  has  made  some  to  say  of  this 
appearance  of  our  Lord  in  all  ages.  Or  will  he  say,  "  I  am 
dreaming  ;  this  is  but  a  vision,  a  fantasy."  For  that  is  what 
this  principle  has  made  still  more  say  in  all  ages.  But 
Thomas  made  neither  of  these  answers.  He  was  now  humbler 
than  before,  and  more  open  to  the  reception  of  truth  from 
above.     And  he  said  what  no  other  of  the  disciples  had  said. 


380  THOMAS   TEE  BELIEVING. 

"  Thomas  answered  and  said  unto  Him,  My  Lord  and  my 
God."  Dan  is  one  among  the  tribes,  Thomas  one  among  the 
apostles.  Let  the  principle,  the  tendency,  the  characteristic 
they  represent,  keep  its  proper  place  and  do  its  proper  work, 
let  it  be  open  to  the  counsels  of  the  higher  reason,  and  evi- 
dence suited  to  its  needs  is  abundantly  provided  ;  and  when 
it  is  convinced  its  intensity  of  belief  strengthens  all  the  rest. 
It  was  not  for  Thomas  only,  but  for  all  whom  he  represents, 
that  our  Lord  vouchsafed  this  mercy.  And  who  will  say  how 
many  of  like  mind  or  like  tendencies  with  Thomas,  reading 
this  record  of  his  reception  of  this  great  Truth,  reading  it 
humbly  and  reverently,  have  been  helped  by  it  to  believe 
even  as  he  believed,  to  say  what  he  said,  to  worship  as  he 
worshipped  ? 

The  late  Dr.  Arnold  —  one  of  the  greatest  and,  so  far  as 
can  be  judged,  one  of  the  best  men  of  modern  times  — 
preached  often  on  these  texts  and  clung  to  them.  And  as 
he  was  dying,  with  almost  his  last  words,  repeated  them, 
with  trust  and  gladness  over  which  neither  doubt  nor  death 
had  any  power. 

Thorwaldsen,  the  eminent  Danish  sculptor,  when  he  made 
for  his  native  land  statues  of  all  the  apostles,  presented 
Thomas  as  bearing  on  his  face  an  expression  of  thoughtful- 
ness,  almost  of  scepticism,  and  having  a  rule  in  his  hand. 
And  they  in  whom  this  principle  is  sovereign  and  self-relying, 
comprehend  nothing  and  believe  nothing  which  they  cannot 
weigh  with  scales,  or  measure  with  the  rule  in  their  hand. 

Let  me  venture  to  draw  one  more  instruction  from  the 
representative  character  of  the  apostles.  In  the  last  chapter 
of  John,  it  is  said,  "  Peter  seeth  the  disciple  whom  Jesus 
loved"  (John).  "Peter  seeing  him,  saith  to  Jesus,  Lord, 
what  shall  this  man  do  ? "  or,  more  literally,  "  This  man, 
what  of  him  ? "  "  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  K  I  will  that  he 
tarry  until  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ?  " 


JOHN  STILL  LIVING,  381 

This  saying  of  our  Lord  has  in  all  ages  been  the  subject 
of  much  inquiry.  The  New  Church  can  only  recognize, 
with  grateful  joy,  that  infinite  mercy  whereby  John  has 
lived  until  He  has  come.  For  John  represents  and  means 
"  charity  in  life ; "  or  the  love  of  goodness  in  act  and  opera- 
tion. And  while  the  Faith  of  the  Christian  Church  has  been 
lost  in  the  multitudinous  falsities  which  have  overwhelmed  it, 
John,  charity  in  life,  still  lives.  Still  lives  and  abounds ;  still 
lives  and  preserves  in  the  church  whatever  life  it  has ;  still 
lives  as  the  foundation  of  all  the  hope  that  it  possesses.  For 
in  their  hearts  in  which  the  love  of  a  good  life  reigns,  and  so 
reigns  that  it  commands  the  outer  life  into  goodness,  our 
Father  will  find  the  means  and  the  possibility  of  establishing 
His  kingdom  upon  the  earth. 


382  SADDUCEES  AND  PHARISEES. 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

OF  THE  SADDUCEES  AND  PHARISEES. 

These  were  the  two  principal  sects  of  the  Jews.  They 
divided  between  them  the  highest  offices  and  leading  posi- 
tions in  the  nation,  and  were  influential  over  public  opinion. 
They  are  often  spoken  of  in  the  Gospels  ;  sometimes  together 
and  sometimes  separately,  but  always  with  rebuke,  and  not 
unfrequently  with  extreme  severity.  While  hostile  to  each 
other,  they  united  in  their  hostility  to  our  Lord.  They  co- 
operated in  persecuting  Him  and  .in  His  death. 

From  the  general  nature  of  correspondence,  we  should  ex- 
pect to  find  these  two  sects  representing  the  two  principles  or 
characteristics  which  are  most  opposed  to  a  reception  of  Gos- 
pel truth ;  of  all  religious  truth.  And  we  should  also  expect 
to  find  in  the  specific  statements  about  them,  important  in- 
struction as  to  these  two  elements  of  human  character. 

The  most  general  description  of  them  would  be,  that  Sad- 
duceeism  represents  unbelief;  the  rejection  of  all  religious 
truth ;  mere  naturalism.  While  Pharisaism  represents  ex- 
ternal goodness  with  much  profession  of  belief,  hypocritical, 
and  accompanied  by  pride  in  self  and  contempt  of  others. 

A  still  simpler  definition,  using  fewer  words  is,  that  Sad- 
duceeism  rejects  truth,  and  Pharisaism  receives  and  perverts 
it.  And  as  all  Truth  offered  to  us,  if  not  rightly  received, 
must  either  be  rejected,  or  received  and  perverted,  it  follows 
that  these  two  elements  of  character  contain  within  them  all 
opposition  to  religious  truth. 


THE  BAPTISM  OF  JOHN.  383 

And  yet  neither  of  them  admits,  neither  of  them  believes 
this  opposition.  They  both  came  to  the  baptism  of  John ; 
for  they  are  both  willing  to  come  to  any  new  thing  and  favor 
it,  if  it  has  drawn  attention  and  they  can  hope  that  it  will 
favor  them,  and  give  support  and  confirmation  to  their  present 
condition  and  character. 

But  the  baptism  of  John  was  unto  repentance ;  it  meant 
repentance.  "  And  when  John  saw  them  come  to  his  baptism, 
He  said  unto  them,  O  generation  of  vipers,  who  hath  warned 
you  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come.  Bring  forth,  therefore, 
fruits  meet  for  repentance."  For  the  first  emotion  of  true  re- 
pentance convinceth  one  of  sin ;  and  teaches  him  that  he 
cannot  flee  from  the  wrath  of  condemnation  but  by  bringing 
forth  the  genuine  fruits  of  repentance.  And  John  added, 
"Think  not  to  say  within  yourselves  we  have  Abraham  for 
our  father,"  for  the  repentance  which  he  taught  and  signifies 
commands  us  to  renounce  all  trust  in  the  sufficiency  and 
excellency  of  our  own  inherited  nature. 

But  did  they  bring  forth  these  fruits  ?  Did  they  accept  the 
baptism  of  John  ?  "■  All  the  people  that  heard  him,  and  the 
publicans,  justified  God,  being  baptized  with  the  baptism  of 
John.  But  the  Pharisees  and  lawyers  rejected  the  counsel 
of  God  against  themselves,  being  not  baptized  of  him"  For 
repentance  is  the  test ;  the  universal,  the  inevitable  test. 
And  the  utter  inability  of  Pharisaism  even  to  comprehend 
repentance,  is  illustrated  in  the  same  chapter.  Our  Lord  was 
in  a  Pharisee's  house,  when  the  woman,  a  sinner,  a  profoundly 
penitent  sinner,  came  to  Him  bringing  an  alabaster  box  ol 
ointment,  "And  stood  at  His  feet  behind  Him,  weeping, 
and  began  to  wash  His  feet  with  tears,  and  wiped  them  with 
the  hairs  of  her  head,  and  kissed  His  feet,  and  anointed  them 
with  the  ointment." 

And  how  was  this  repentant  sinner  received  by  the  Phari- 
see ?  "  When  the  Pharisee  saw  it,  he  spake  within  himself, 
saying,  This  man,  if  He  were  a  prophet,  would  have  known 


384  SADDUCEEISM  MERE  NATURALISM. 

who  and  what  manner  of  woman  this  is  that  touches  Him ; 
for  she  is  a  sinner." 

Then,  ever  since,  and  in  all  the  ages  that  are  to  come,  this 
was  and  ever  will  be  the  answer  of  Pharisees  —  to  a  true, 
spiritual  repentance ;  to  one  which  humbles  itself  as  in  dust 
and  ashes,  not  before  them,  but  before  the  Lord.  And  never 
has  the  mind  in  which  Pharisaism  prevails,  felt,  what  so 
many  humble  and  repenting  sinners  have  felt,  the  infinite 
tenderness  of  the  words  with  which  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
answered  the  Pharisee  and  forgave  this  sinner.  To  how 
many,  through  her,  hath  He  uttered  the  words,  "  Go  in 
Peace." 

Sadduceeism  is  unbelief;  mere  naturalism.  And  this  may 
be  illustrated  by  a  comparison  of  two  passages  of  Scripture. 
Li  Matthew  xvi.  6,  our  Lord  said  to  his  disciples,  "  Take 
heed  and  beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees  and  of  the 
Sadducees."  But  in  Mark  viii.  15,  in  the  narrative  of 
the  same  circumstances  He  said,  "  Take  heed  and  beware 
of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees  and  the  leaven  of  Herod." 
The  Sadducees  and  Herod  are  thus  used  as  convertible  terms, 
of  the  same  meaning.  For  Herod,  the  King  of  the  Jews, 
impersonated  the  Jewish  character ;  and  that  was  one  of  pure 
naturalism,  or  externalism.  They  believed  in,  lived  in,  cared 
for,  external  things  alone ;  and  they  who  would  go  from  ex- 
ternals to  internals,  from  things  of  this  world  to  things  of  the 
eternal  world,  go  where  such  persons  as  these  cannot  go  with 
them  ;  cannot  understand  them,  cannot  believe  what  they  say, 
nor  feel  any  interest  in  it. 

K  any  who  read  this  say.  We  at  all  events  are  free  from 
this  Sadduceeism,  this  naturalism,  this  externalism ;  for  we 
believe  in  and  care  for  internal  things,  —  will  they  permit 
me  to  suggest  a  question  which  they  may  ask  themselves ; 
"What  proportion  does  our  thought  of,  our  care  for,  our 
interest  in,  our  enjoyment  of,  spiritual  things,  bear  to  our 
thought  of,  care  for,  interest  in,  and  enjoyment  of  external 


NEANDER'S   STATEMENTS.  385 

and  worldly  things."  If  this  proportion  be  that  which  is  due 
to  their  relative  importance,  and  to  the  whole  relation  of 
externals  to  internals,  then  are  they  free  from  Sadduceeism  ; 
then,  only. 

How  general  and  how  strong  is  this  spirit  of  unbelief, 
in  this  age  !  Very  seldom  is  it  now  insolent  and  contemptu- 
ous in  its  denials ;  and  not  unfrequently  it  uses  soft  words 
of  qualification  or  disguise,  sometimes  winding  up  an  enthusi- 
astic glorification  of  nature  with  a  few  words  about  God,  that 
it  may  not  shock  the  lingering  prejudices  of  the  feeble.  But 
where  is  not  this  Sadduceeism  found  ?  Is  not  the  prevailing 
science  of  the  day,  is  not  the  teaching  of  the  accepted  leaders 
of  thought, ' —  not  universally,  but  very  generally,  —  Saddu- 
cean? 

In  the  Introduction  to  Neander's  History  of  Christianity, 
he  gives  a  picture  of  the  condition  of  the  civilized  world  at 
the  coming  of  our  Lord.  Himself  by  birth  and  race  a  Jew, 
He  could  the  better  understand  the  character  of  his  country- 
men. As  a  scholar  of  vast  and  various  learning,  he  knew  all 
that  ancient  books  could  tell  him  of  the  Jews.  And  he 
brought  to  the  investigation  of  their  character,  not  only  great 
intellectual  ability,  but  an  earnest  and  devout  sense  of  the 
meaning  and  value  of  that  Christianity  to  which  they  stood 
in  perfect  antagonism.  He  describes  the  Pharisees  and  the 
Sadducees  fully ;  and  His  descrij^tion  of  that  distant  day 
may  throw  some  light  on  the  present.  Of  the  Pharisees  he 
says,  "  They  stood  at  the  head  of  legal  Judaism."  "  To  a 
rigid  austerity  in  avoiding  even  the  appearance  of  transgress- 
ing the  ritual  precepts,  they  united  an  easy  sophistry,  which 
sufficiently  excused  many  a  violation  of  the  moral  law." 
"  One  thing  was  wanting  to  them,  —  the  humility  with  which 
those  who  feel  the  poverty  of  their  own  spirit  go  forth 
to  meet  the  divine  grace."  Of  the  Sadducees  he  says,  "  Up- 
rightness in  the  relations  of  civil  society  was  every  thing. 
Starting  from  this  principle,  there  was  nothing  in  their  view  of 

25 


386  NO   CONDEMNATION. 

morality  which  presented  a  point  of  contact  for  a  feeling  of 
religious  need.  Their  way  of  thinking  approximated  to  a 
Deism,  which  denied  all  revelation.  They  were  for  the  most 
part  persons  of  some  wealth,  who  led  an  easy  life,  and  satisfied 
with  earthly  enjoyments,  closed  their  minds  against  all  higher 
aspirations." 

To  return  to  our  own  times,  what  can  be  more  opposed  to 
the  Sadduceeism  of  this  age,  than  the  Pharisaism  of  this 
age  ?  Seemingly,  they  are  precisely  and  uncompromisingly 
antagonistic,  with  no  common  ground  to  stand  on.  The  one 
is  stubborn,  scornful,  unbelief  and  denial ;  scornful,  whether 
it  hide  its  scorn  or  not.  The  other  is  confident,  loud  and  self- 
asserting  belief.  So  it  was  in  our  Saviour's  day ;  and  yet  he 
joins  them  in  one  condemnation.  In  Matthew  xvi.  1,  they 
came  together  to  ask  of  Him  a  sign.  It  was  refused ;  and 
soon  after  our  Lord  warned  His  disciples  against  the  leaven 
of  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  ;  and  afterwards  explaining  to 
them  what  He  meant,  "  Then  understood  they  how  that  He 
bade  them  not  beware  of  the  leaven  of  bread,  but  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees."  The  doctx-ine,  not 
the  doctrines ;  for  while  they  seem  to  be  in  perfect  opposi- 
tion to  each  other,  and  there  is  no  one  doctrine  in  which  they 
seem  to  agree,  all  of  their  doctrines  are  one  in  their  origin, 
and  all  are  one  in  their  result. 

Pharisaism  is  indeed,  under  one  aspect,  the  antagonist  of 
Sadduceeism.  It  is,  as  I  have  said,  belief,  confident,  emphatic 
belief.  Probably  there  are  none  who  look  upon  our  modern 
Sadducees,  our  unbelieving  Scientists,  our  Christians  who 
deny  Christ,  with  so  much  scorn  as  do  our  modern  Pharisees. 
And  there  are  none  who  despise  our  Pharisees  as  do  our 
Sadducees,  for  what  they  consider  the  blind  and  irrational 
acceptance  of  traditional  beliefs  which  the  higher  reason  of 
to-day  has  exploded.  And  yet  all  belief  which  only  nurtures 
self-love,  and  comes  from  and  confirms  a  consciousness  of 
superiority,  and  lives  upon  it,  is,  though  it  may  put  on  different 


A   SADDUCEE  MAY  BE  A  PHARISEE.         387 

forms,  the  same  tendency  to  love  self  first,  and  trust  in  self, 
and  rejoice  in  self-exaltation.  The  two  combined  together  to 
persecute  and  to  slay  our  Lord.  The  two  combine  together 
to  resist  and  reject  all  genuine  religious  truth.  For  of 
such  truth  there  is  but  one  foundation ;  the  denial  of  self, 
of  the  love  of  self  and  of  the  trust  in  self;  and  the  postpone- 
ment of  self  to  God  and  the  neighbor. 

Sadduceeism  and  Pharisaism  may  easily  meet  in  the  same 
mind.  An  unbelieving  Sadducee  may  be  proud  of  his  un- 
belief, for  his  unbelief  is  belief  in  himself,  and  he  may  feed 
his  self-complacency  with  the  thought  how  wise  he  is  in 
seeing  through  the  errors  and  follies  from  which  weaker 
minds  cannot  escape.  The  only  thing  he  does  not  doubt  is 
the  sufficiency  of  his  own  intelligence.  And  the  more  he 
denies  of  what  others  believe,  the  wiser  he  thinks  himself,  and 
the  more  contempt  he  feels  for  his  foolish  neighbors.  In 
his  belief,  in  his  pride,  and  in  his  contempt  he  is  a  Pharisee. 
His  contempt  may  be  softened  by  pity,  or  disguised  by  policy 
or  courtesy ;  but  it  is  none  the  less  contempt.  And  the 
Pharisee,  while  believing  his  own  narrow  religious  tenets 
with  undoubting  faith,  draws  round  them  a  sharp  defining 
line ;  and  whatever  lies  beyond  that  line,  he  holds  in  utter 
unbelief,  in  scorn  and  in  hatred ;  he  is  as  to  them  a 
Sadducee. 

All  religious  truth  requires,  as  its  very  essence,  and  as 
that  which  is  indispensable  to  its  reception  in  the  mind  and 
heart,  a  profound  belief  that  religious  truth  comes  from  God 
to  man,  and  so  comes  because  man  cannot  have  it  otherwise. 

Sadduceeism  refuses  to  comply  with  this  requirement, 
M'hen  in  its  trust  in  self  it  denies  the  necessity  of  revelation, 
and  then  the  possibility  of  revelation.  For  this  denial  springs 
from  a  contentment  with  self,  with  one's  own  ability  to  dis- 
cover all  truth,  and  to  do  aU  good ;  to  discover  truth  and  to 
do  good  in  one's  own  strength ;  and  consequently  to  regard 
every  step  in  the  acquirement  of  truth  or  the  practice  of 


388  FAITH  FOUNDED   ON  PERCEPTION. 

good,  as  evidence  of  this  sufficiency  of  self  and  a  justification 
of  pride  in  self. 

Often,  where  this  is  not  carried  to  an  extreme  so  obvious 
as  to  bring  it  to  one's  own  knowledge,  it  is  still  active,  and 
wherever  active  it  is  mischievous.  It  brings  a  cloud  over  the 
mind.  It  suggests  doubts  and  difficulties.  It  whispers  "  Be- 
ware how  you  receive  that  doctrine  until  you  have  compared 
it  with  all  others ;  have  tested  it  by  your  logic,  and  subjected 
it  to  your  own  ratiocination."  It  admits  nothing.  It  forgets 
that  all  reasoning,  on  all  subjects,  must  begin  from  some 
axioms  of  belief,  which  are  held  as  true  for  no  other  reason 
than  that  they  are  seen  to  be  true ;  and  if  our  fundamental 
axioms  of  belief  are  only  of  sensuous  and  natural  truth, 
reasoning  from  them  can  no  more  go  higher  than  they,  than 
the  stream  can  go  higher  than  its  source ;  it  can  lead  only  to 
spiritual  falsity,  because  religious  truth  and  spiritual  knowledge 
can  be  built  up  only  on  the  foundations  of  axioms  of  belief  of 
spiritual  and  religious  truth,  held  to  be  true  because  they  are 
seen  to  be  true.  It  forgets,  if  it  ever  knew,  that  all  religious 
faith  must  rest,  finally,  on  the  perception  of  religious  truth. 

The  Sadduceeism  of  our  Lord's  time  manifested  itself  most 
of  all  in  "  tempting  Him,"  as  it  is  called,  by  captious  questions, 
skilfully  prepared  to  catch  Him  and  defeat  Him.  The 
Sadduceeism  of  to-day  leads  every  mind  in  which  it  has  any 
power,  to  tempt,  to  assail,  His  truth,  in  just  the  same  way. 

Pharisaism  reaches  the  same  end  but  by  a  very  different 
path.  It  asserts  that  there  is  a  revelation ;  and  says,  "  It  is 
for  me;  it  is  not  offered  to  you  whose  eyes  are  blind  and 
are  groping  in  utter  ignorance  of  that  I  know  so  well ;  it  is 
not  for  you,  but  for  me,  and  how  wise  and  how  good  it  has 
made  me.  I  have  nothing  more  to  learn."  The  most  common 
epithet  applied  to  the  Pharisees  in  the  Gospels,  is  Hypocrites ! 
And  Pharisaism  cannot  but  be  hypocritical.  It  delights  so 
much  in  its  own  wisdom  and  excellence,  and  founds  upon  them 
such  a  claim  to  the  admiration  of  men  and  the  admiratioii 


NOT  AS  THIS  PUBLICAN.  389 

of  self,  that  it  cannot  help  magnifying  them,  displaying  them, 
and  hiding  whatever  might  derogate  from  their  perfection. 

When  the  Pharisee  and  the  publican  met  in  the  temple, 
and  the  Pharisee  thanked  God  "  that  he  was  not  as  this 
publican,"  he  enumerated  all  the  grounds  of  his  superiority. 
He  dwelt  upon  them  proudly,  because  they  gratified  his  pride. 
He  asserted  them  all  emphatically,  that  his  claims  might  not 
be  questioned ;  but  of  his  shortcomings  and  of  any  thing 
which  qualified  his  claims  or  made  his  excellence  less  perfect, 
he  said  nothing.  Pharisaism  is  always  hypocritical.  While 
it  is  founded  upon  actual  love  of  self,  trust  in  self  and  admira- 
tion of  self,  it  always  claims  from  others  even  more,  and 
generally  much  more,  than  with  all  its  self-esteem  it  is  able 
to  believe  in  its  self.  With  all  its  pride  and  self-reliance,  it 
is  always  insincere  and  pretentious.  It  wears  wide  phy- 
lacteries to  win  honor  among  men ;  it  seeks  the  uppermost 
rooms  at  feasts  that  its  place  among  men  may  be  recognized. 
It  may  even  affect  humility,  to  strengthen  the  foundations  of 
its  pride.  And  there  is  no  pride  more  dangerous  or  more 
deadly,  than  pride  in  our  humility.  It  fasts  oft,  and  abstains 
from  common  enjoyments  and  recreations,  to  be  seen  of 
men.  It  gives  tithes  of  mint  and  anise  and  cummin,  and 
parades  its  gifts ;  but  of  its  utter  disregard  of  the  weightier 
matters  of  the  law,  it  is,  in  part  unconscious  and  wholly 
silent.  JSIoved  by  an  impulse  of  good  not  entirely  quenched, 
or  by  a  desire  to  increase  its  merit  that  it  may  increase  its 
[)ride,  it  may  come  to  our  Lord  as  Nicodemus  came,  —  for 
"  he  was  a  man  of  the  Pharisees,  a  ruler  of  the  Jews  ; "  but 
when  it  is  told,  that  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again  he  cannot 
see  the  kingdom  of  God,"  the  truth  about  regeneration  is  to 
mere  Pharisaism,  inconceivable,  impossible ;  and  Pharisaism 
can  make  but  one  answer,  the  answer  of  Nicodemus  ;  "  How 
can  these  things  be  ? "  Modern  Pharisaism  asserts  the 
doctrine  of  regeneration  and  its  own  regeneration.  But  the 
regeneration  it  seeks  and  is  proud  of  is  not  the  subdual  of 


390  PHARISAIC  BIQHTEOUSNESS, 

self,  and  a  new  life  from  above ;  it  does  not  seek  to  lose  its 
own  life  for  His  sake,  its  cherished  life  of  self-love,  self-pride 
and  self-contentment,  that  it  may  receive  from  Him  a  new 
life  ;  one  which  in  its  humility  acknowledges  that  all  there  is 
in  it  of  good  or  of  truth  is  the  perpetual  gift  of  Him  who 
alone  is  Good  and  True  in  Himself,  a  life  which  is  conscious 
that  it  is  given  to  them  who  now  are,  and  ever  will  be,  and 
ever  know  themselves  to  be,  of  themselves,  only  foolish,  weak 
and  wicked.  And  when  Pharisaism  is  told  that  a  true 
regeneration  does  not  begin  until  an  effort  is  made  to  forget 
self,  to  humble  self,  to  repent  of  the  pride  that  was  its  life  as 
of  a  deadly  sin,  and  cannot  go  forward  unless  these  efforts  are 
continued  and  are  successful,  this  cannot  but  seem  as  im- 
possible as  it  would  be  "  to  enter  into  the  mother's  womb  and 
be  born  again." 

"Except  your  righteousness  shall  exceed  that  of  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  And  what  is  this  Pharisaic  righteous- 
ness, beyond  which  we  must  go,  or  not  go  upwards  ?  It  is 
something  to  be  exceeded,  not  to  be  left  undone  ;  "  for  they 
sit  in  Moses's  seat."  We  are  told  with  entire  distinctness 
what  Pharisaic  righteousness  is.  "  Woe  unto  you  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  hypocrites !  For  ye  make  clean  the  outside  of 
the  cup  and  the  platter,  but  within  ye  are  full  of  extortion 
and  excess.  Blind  Pharisee,  cleanse  first  that  which  is  within 
the  cup  and  platter,  that  the  outside  of  them  may  be  clean 
also."  For  then  only  and  so  only  will  the  outside  be  truly 
clean ;  washed  clean  with  the  waters  of  truth. 

The  verses  just  quoted  are  followed  by  these :  "  Woe  unto 
you  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites !  For  ye  are  like 
unto  whited  sepulchres,  which  indeed  appear  beautiful  with- 
out, but  are  within  full  of  dead  men's  bones  and  of  all  un- 
cleanness.  Even  so  ye  outwardly  appear  righteous  unto  men, 
but  within  ye  are  full  of  hypocrisy  and  iniquity."  Besides 
Ihe  hypocrisy  which  consists  of  conscious  and  intended  falsi- 


HYPOCRISY.  391 

fication,  there  is  yet  the  deeper  hypocrisy  to  which  these 
verses  also  refer.  Pharisaism  is  none  the  better  when  its 
pride  has  wrought  an  utter  self-delusion,  and  it  believes  itself 
as  excellent  as  it  would  have  men  believe  it.  Its  external 
goodness,  whatever  it  may  be,  comes  from  motives  which  do 
not  merely  leave  its  internal  uncleanness  untouched,  but  in- 
tensify and  confirm  it.  For  all  evil  springs  from  the  love  of 
self,  which  leads  to  self-indulgence,  whether  it  be  the  indul- 
gence of  sense  or  of  self-admiration ;  and  to  disregard  of  the 
neighbor.  And  from  the  love  of  self  and  the  evil  it  gener- 
ates comes  that  trust  in  self,  which  worships  self,  and  finds  it 
so  hard  to  worship  God,  or  worships  Him  only  that  it  may 
strengthen  its  right  to  self-admiration  and  to  honor  and 
authority  among  men.  Nor  can  this  deep-seated  uncleanness 
be  itself  cleansed  away,  until  there  is  a  profound  conscious- 
ness of  it ;  a  certainty  that  self  has  no  power  to  cleanse  self, 
a  prayer  for  help  from  Him  who  alone  can  help.  And  if 
this  help  comes,  as  come  it  will  if  the  way  be  opened  by  an 
earnest  wish  for  it,  —  when  it  comes  to  a  repentance  which 
is  not  itself  to  be  repented  of,  it  will  plant  in  the  heart  the 
deepest  conviction,  that  we  are  withheld  from  wickedness  and 
woe,  that  we  are  withheld  from  ourselves,  only  by  Him,  who 
cannot  withhold  us  while  trust  in  self  and  love  of  self  resist 
and  defeat  His  Providence. 

Sadduceeism  and  Pharisaism,  however  hostile,  agree  per- 
fectly in  their  devotion  to  externalism.  Sadduceeism  in  its 
exclusive  reception  of  external  and  natural  truth.  Phari- 
saism in  looking  at  the  outside  of  conduct  first,  and  in  its 
disposition  "  to  bind  heavy  burdens  and  lay  them  on  men's 
shoulders." 

Very  many  of  our  Lord's  miracles  of  mercy  were  wrought 
on  the  Sabbath  day ;  and  this  was  a  constant  offence  to  the 
Pharisees,  and  they  strove  to  use  it  as  a  means  of  lessening 
his  influence.  "  And  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  watched 
him,  whether  he  would  heal  on  the  Sabbath  day ;  that  they 


392    THE  PRESENT  REPEATS   THE   PAST. 

might  find  an  accusation  against  him."  But  when,  in  utter 
disregard  of  their  hostility,  he  healed  the  withered  arm, 
"  They  were  filled  with  madness,  and  communed  one  with 
another  what  they  might  do  to  Jesus." 

To  tell  Pharisaism  that  its  abstinence  from  external  dis- 
order, when  pride  and  self-love  are  nourished  by  it,  only  feeds 
an  internal  and  malignant  disease  that  eats  life  away,  —  can- 
not but  fill  it  with  madness ;  cannot  but  excite  its  utmost 
hostility  against  the  truth  which  threatens  with  demolition 
its  whole  fabric  of  self-glory  and  of  dominion  over  the  minds 
of  men. 

When  our  Lord  came  on  earth,  He  came  at  the  close  of  a 
dispensation  which,  from  the  effects  of  human  corruption, 
had  lost  its  power  for  the  good  of  mankind.  He  came  to 
bring  a  new  dispensation,  to  establish  a  New  Church.  He 
found  the  Pharisees  and  the  Sadducees  dividing  between 
them  nearly  the  whole  belief  and  power  of  the  nation.  They 
were  irreconcilable  enemies  to  each  other.  But  while  they 
agreed  in  nothing  else,  they  agreed  and  combined  to  oppose 
and  persecute  and  crucify  Him. 

In  all  this  we  have  a  vivid  picture  of  the  present  day. 
The  Messiah  was  universally  and  anxiously  expected  by  the 
Jews.  But  when  He  came.  He  was  not  such  a  Messiah  as 
they  expected  or  desired,  and  they  rejected  Him.  Nothing 
is  more  noticeable  at  the  present  day  than  the  very  general 
expectation  among  thoughtful  men  who  are  interested  in  the 
religious  condition  of  mankind,  that  light  is  about  to  break 
forth  somewhere ;  that  a  revival  of  the  church  is  needed  and 
at  hand,  or,  as  some  express  it,  that  a  new  era  is  coming. 
This  feeling  is  variously  expressed ;  but  we  meet  with  it  almost 
everywhere.  In  an  interesting  book  I  was  looking  at  a  few 
hours  ago,  —  Whittier's  prose  writings,  —  I  find  this  :  "  In  the 
time,  now,  we  trust,  near  at  hand,  when  distracted  and  di- 
vided Christendom  shall  unite  in  a  new  evangelical  union." 
Not  long  ago  an  able  work  by  an  author  of  some  celebrity 


A  MESSIAH  EXPECTED.  393 

was  published  in  England,  entitled  "  Saturday  Night."  And 
its  purpose  was  to  show  that  all  the  characteristics  of  the  age 
indicated  that  we  have  reached  a  "  Saturday  night ; "  that  this 
week  of  history  has  come  to  an  end ;  that  a  "  Lord's  day," 
the  beginning  of  a  new  week,  was  ready  to  dawn  upon  us. 
And  in  a  lately  published  history  of  the  Roman  empire  now 
commanding  attention,  there  is  an  eloquent  pai'agraph  illus- 
trating what  the  writer  thinks  the  striking  analogies  between 
the  condition  of  the  world  when  our  Lord  came,  and  that  in 
which  we  live.  Even  the  Sadducees  of  this  day  rejoice  in 
the  hope  that  the  reign  of  "  Reason"  (their  Reason)  has 
begun,  and  that  before  its  growing  light  "  Superstition,"  or 
belief  in  any  thing  which  they  do  not  believe,  will  flee  away. 

I  might  enlarge  these  references  indefinitely.  It  is  more 
to  my  purpose  however,  to  say,  that  this  new  era,  this  begin- 
ning of  a  new  week  in  history,  this  new  "  day  of  the  Lord  " 
has  come  ;  that  this  new  light  has  broken  forth.  And  why 
is  it  not  cordially  welcomed  and  generally  received?  Be- 
cause most  of  those  who  expect  this  new  light  and  perhaps 
anxiously  await  its  coming,  do  in  reality  and  in  fact,  expect 
and  desire  only  more  of  that  light  which  they  now  possess 
and  which  now  makes  them  wise ;  only  what  will  suit  and 
confirm  their  present  views,  opinions  and  wishes.  And  when 
the  light  comes  that  tells  them  how  unwise  they  are,  it  is  to 
them,  darkness.  They  expected  a  Messiah ;  but  not  a  Mes- 
siah who  will  administer  rebukes  to  them,  as  our  Lord  uttered 
His  rebukes  against  those  who  expected  Him.  They  cannot 
bear  such  a  Messiah ;  such  truth ;  and  when  He  comes,  they 
reject  Him  and  it. 

He  has  come,  at  the  end  of  a  church  which  has,  from  the 
effects  of  human  corruption,  lost  its  power  for  the  good  of 
mankind.  He  comes  in  the  clouds  of  heaven ;  in  the  literal 
sense  of  that  word  which  is  the  wisdom  of  heaven  and  the 
law  of  its  life ;  in  that  literal  sense  which,  drawn  from  earth 
and  the  tilings  of  earth,  envelops  the  spiritual  sense  and  has 


394         WEOM  TRUTH  FILLS  WITH  MADNESS. 

veiled  its  glory  and  is  now,  by  His  coming  in  it,  made  tranS" 
lucent  to  that  glory.  He  comes  and  finds  Sadduceeism  and 
Pharisaism  dividing  between  them  much,  very  much,  of  the 
thought  and  power  of  Christendom.  Utterly  hostile  to  each 
other,  they  are  in  perfect  agreement  in  their  hostility  to 
Him. 

He  came  before  "  to  bring  life  and  immortality  to  light 
through  the  Gospel."  He  has  come  now  to  bring  them  into 
fuller,  clearer  light.  And  Sadduceeism  "  whicli  says  that 
there  is  no  resurrection  "  again  rejects  His  instruction.  And 
the  Sadduceeism  which  does  not  say  there  is  no  resurrec- 
tion, but  is  unconscious  how  feeble  and  uncertain  and  un- 
defined is  its  belief  of  another  life,  is  shocked  and  startled  at 
the  strong  light  which  now  rests  upon  our  homes  beyond  the 
grave.  He  comes  to  substitute  the  worship  of  God  for  the 
worship  of  self;  to  cast  out  the  devils  of  self-love;  to  strike 
down  pride  and  trust  in  self;  to  enable  all  who  will,  to  see 
that  self-love  in  itself,  in  all  its  forms,  all  its  influences,  and 
all  its  progeny,  is  but  "  a  generation  of  vipers  which  cannot 
escape  the  damnation  of  hell."  How  can  it  be  otherwise, 
than  that  the  light  He  has  given  to  make  these  things  clear  to 
them  who  will  permit  Him  to  open  their  eyes,  must  fill  the 
Pharisaism  of  to-day  with  madness,  and  excite  in  it  the 
fiercest   hostility  against  this  Truth,   against  this   Light? 

And  as  there  were  those  in  His  earlier  day,  so  there  must 
be  those  in  this  His  second  coming,  who,  when  their  eyes  are 
turned  towards  Him,  towards  His  wisdom,  towards  His  truth, 
And  they  are  beginning  to  feel  and  to  say  that  "  never  man 
gpake  like  this  man,"  are  yet  turned  away,  because  "  Then 
answer  them  the  Pharisees  Are  ye  also  deceived?  Have 
jiny  of  the  rulers  or  of  the  Pharisees  believed  in 
Him ; "  the  rulers  of  thought,  the  men  who  are  accepted 
standards  of  religious  faith  ?  No,  they  have  not  believed  in 
Him. 


NONE  FREE  FROM  THESE   SINS.  395 

Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  the  elements  of  character  I 
have  endeavored  to  speak  of,  are  universal.  They  have  this 
prominence  in  the  Gospels  because  they  belong  necessarily 
to  unregenerate  human  nature.  None  are  exempt  from 
these  tendencies  to  error  and  to  sin.  Who  are  they  who 
never  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  truth  when  it  is  offered,  and  open 
the  ear  only  to  that  which  obscures  and  doubts  and  rejects  the 
truth  ;  who  think  their  ignorance  knowledge,  and  their  unbe- 
lief wisdom,  although  they  do  not  say  so,  and  may  not  even 
know  they  think  so  ?  Who  are  they  who  are  never  proud 
of  their  belief,  and  bigoted  in  their  dislike  and  disregard  of 
those  who  differ  from  them,  and  arrogant  in  their  assertion 
of  their  belief  and  their  superiority  over  others  ?  There  are 
none  such.  None  in,  or  out  of,  this  New  Church  or  any 
church  ;  none  of  any  name.  None  who  need  not  constant, 
prayerful  and  humble  self-watchfiilness,  that  their  own  Saddu- 
ceeism  or  Pharisaism  do  not  reject  the  truth  that  is  offered 
them,  do  not  resist  the  influence  that  would  save  them,  do 
not,  so  far  as  they  are  permitted  to  operate,  crucify  the  Lord 
again. 


396  CLOSING  SCENES. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  CLOSING  SCENES   OF  OUR  LORD'S  LIFE  ON 
EARTH. 

The  Gospels,  while  everywhere  full  of  meanmg  and  every- 
where relating  to  events  which  cannot  be  compared  with  any 
other  which  have  taken  place  on  earth,  deepen  in  their  signifi- 
cance and  their  solemnity  as  they  draw  near  their  termination. 
And  as  we  reach  that  termination  and  contemplate  its  awful 
circumstances,  the  sense  of  our  inability  to  treat  of  them 
worthily,  which  has  been  oppressive  through  all  our  work, 
intensifies  into  a  dread  which  imposes  silence.  And  without 
attempting  to  consider  them  in  detail,  our  remarks  will  be 
confined  to  the  agony  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  and 
the  death  upon  the  cross,  concerning  which  important  errors 
have  prevailed. 

It  seems  to  be  generally  believed  that  the  sufferings  of 
Jesus  in  the  garden  arose  from  His  clear  anticipation  of  the 
horrors  of  crucifixion ;  and  that  the  dehverance  for  which  He 
prayed  was  a  deliverance  from  those  horrors.  It  is  strange 
that  such  an  idea  could  ever  be  entertained.  He  was  to 
suffer  on  the  cross  only  what  the  malefactors  crucified  with 
Him  were  to  suffer ;  and  only  what  many  of  His  disciples  in 
succeeding  ages  were  to  suffer,  often  with  constancy  and 
calmness  and  sometimes  with  joy.  Why  should  He  have 
been  so  weak  ? 

He  prays  "  Take  this  cup  from  me ; "  not  a  cup  which  was 
to  be  held  to  His  lips  thereafter,  but  this  cup,  of  which  He 
was  then  drinking,  and  was  soon  to  drain  to  the  very  last 


TEMPTATIONS.  397 

drop.  He  prayed  also  that  "the  hour  might  pass  from 
Him ; "  —  not  that  a  distant  hour  should  not  come  to  Him, 
but  that  the  present  hour,  the  hour  of  agony  intolerable  by 
any  strength  but  His  own,  might  then  pass  from  Him.  It 
was  a  present  agony  which  wnmg  from  Him  His  patient 
prayer. 

What  was  this  agony  ?  His  own  words  help  us  to  answer ; 
as  it  began,  "  when  He  was  at  the  place,  He  said  unto  them. 
Pray  that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation."  And  after  "  He  rose 
up  from  prayer,"  He  said  unto  His  disciples,  "  Watch  and 
pray  lest  ye  enter  into  temptation ;  "  and  "  again  He  went 
away,  and  prayed,  and  spake  the  same  words." 

The  agony  of  our  Lord  in  the  garden  was  an  agony  of 
Temptation. 

Temptation  occurs  when  any  thought  of  falsity  or  any  evil 
affection  is  insinuated  into  the  mind  by  evil  spirits,  and  the 
influence  of  good  spirits  resists  this  evil  through  the  reason, 
the  conscience  or  the  faith.  Then  there  is  a  conflict  in  the 
soul. 

Temptations  are  of  every  imaginable  variety,  for  there  is 
no  impulse  to  think  or  believe  any  thing  that  is  false,  or  to. 
desire  or  do  any  thing  that  is  wrong,  which  is  not  a  temptation, 
and,  if  resisted,  does  not  give  rise  to  conflict.  So  too,  temp- 
tations are  of  every  conceivable  degree  of  magnitude  and 
force,  from  the  slight  disturbance  which  passes  at  once  and  is 
forgotten,  to  the  agony  in  the  garden. 

No  temptations  can  come  to  any  human  being,  unless  they 
are  permitted  by  Divine  Providence.  And  because  that 
Providence  is  under  the  guidance  of  infinite  love,  none  are 
ever  permitted  unless  with  the  design  that  they  should  make 
the  sufferer  bettex,  and  therefore  none  which  he  may  not 
resist  and  conquer.  But  the  few  of  which  this  is  true  of 
any  man,  are  vastly  less  in  number  and  in  power,  than  they 
would  be  if  even  a  large  part  of  his  hereditary  evils  were  let 
loose   upon  him.     While   these  are   not   awakened   by  the 


398  TEE  LOBE'S   TEMPTATIONS. 

influence  of  evil  spirits,  they  produce  no  effect,  they  do  not 
come  into  consciousness,  they  remain  only  tendencies,  they  do 
not  condemn  the  man ;  and  if  he  take  his  place  among  the 
blessed,  their  activity  is  suppressed  and  their  existence  un- 
known. For  infinite  mercy  provides  that  all  of  them  shall 
remain  thus  suppressed  and  unknown,  excepting  those  only, 
which  becoming  known,  may  be  put  away  by  resistance  or 
repentance ;  and  when  put  away  may  open  an  entrance  and 
an  abiding  home  for  the  opposite  good. 

Hence  the  worst  temptations  we  know  are  but  as  the 
waters  that  lie  on  the  surface  and  edges  of  the  ocean,  and  are 
lashed  by  a  storm-wind  into  fury.  What  would  they  be,  if 
the  whole  ocean  were  moved  from  its  very  depths?  If  I  say 
that  all  the  temptations  which  any  man  has  ever  endured,  are, 
in  comparison  with  the  temptations  of  our  Lord,  as  the  spray 
of  the  ocean  compared  with  its  whole  mass  and  weight,  I 
utter  only  a  simple,  but  an  inadequate  truth.  For  our  Lord 
came  "in  the  fulness  of  time"  or  when  time  had  done  its 
full  work,  and  all  possible  tendencies  to  evil  were  accumulated 
in  humanity ;  and  all  were  assumed  by  Him,  all  were  brought 
forth  and  vivified  in  His  mind,  all  were  resisted,  combated 
and  overcome ;  and  therefore  no  temptation  can  ever  come  to 
any  man  from  any  evil  influence  which  was  not  felt  by  our 
Lord,  and  overcome  by  Him,  and  reduced  and  subjected  for- 
ever to  divine  order,  by  our  Lord's  victory  in  His  tempta- 
tions. 

We  know  what  merely  human  temptations  may  do.  Few 
of  us  can  speak  from  experience  of  them  to  any  great  extent. 
But  none  can  make  much  progress  in  spiritual  improvement, 
without  learning  what  enables  them  to  understand  the  records 
of  those  men's  lives,  which  show  that  these  internal  conflicts 
have  caused  intolerable  anguish,  and  crushed  strong  intellects, 
and  broken  down  bodily  health.  What  were  they  when  they 
were  endured  in  their  immeasurable  intensity  by  our  Lord's 
assumed  humanity? 


GETHSEMANE.  399 

We  may  answer  this  question  from  the  Gospels.  They 
bowed  Him  down  with  a  distress  which  expressed  itself  in 
sweat  like  great  drops  of  blood.  Where  elsewhere  have  men 
looked  upon  or  recorded  an  instance  of  mental  suffering  so 
intense  and  so  proved  ?  And  the  same  work  was  the  work  of 
His  whole  earthly  life ;  growing  in  severity  as  that  life 
advanced ;  having  its  paroxysms  of  violence,  alternating  with 
periods  of  remission  and  calm  ;  but  always  before  Him.  He 
spoke  of  His  disciples  as  those  who  had  been  with  Him  in 
His  temptations.  And  at  another  time  He  said,  "  I  have 
a  baptism  to  be  baptized  with,  and  how  am  I  straitened  till  it 
be  accomplished." 

And  this  work,  and  the  agony  which  it  caused,  did  not  cul- 
minate in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  unimaginable  as  it  then 
was.  It  went  still  forward  to  its  end  upon  the  cross.  In  that 
end,  He  could  no  longer  utter  the  prayer  for  deliverance 
coupled  with  submission  to  His  Father's  will ;  for  even  He 
knew  the  torture  of  despair ;  "  My  God !  my  God !  why  hast 
thou  forsaken  me  ?  "  More  could  not  be.  Immediately  after, 
taking  the  narrative  of  Mai'k,  "  Jesus  cried  with  a  loud  voice, 
and  gave  up  the  ghost."  As  John  narrates  it,  "  He  said,  It  is 
finished,  and  gave  up  the  ghost."  It  was  finished.  The  clay 
tenement  which  had  held  His  soul,  and  had  endured  until  the 
work  should  be  finished,  could  bear  no  more  and  live  no 
longer ;  the  heart,  which  had  already  been  so  wrung  as  to 
pour  forth  its  blood  in  sweat,  now  broke  down  in  death. 

Our  Lord  died  on  the  cross,  not  because  of  the  cross,  but 
because  of  the  internal  suffering  he  endured  while  suspended 
there. 

Death  by  crucifixion  was  not  an  uncommon  punishment  in 
ancient  times.  Instances  are  related  of  the  crucifixion  of 
thousands  of  prisoners  and  conquered  rebels  at  the  same 
time.  Constantino  prohibited  this  punishment  in  the  fourth 
century  ;  but  it  is  now  not  disused  in  eastern  nations.  Much 
is  well  known  about  it.     It  was,  and  wherever  practised  is. 


400  DEATH  ON  TEE   CROSS. 

the  most  cruel,  most  painful,  and  most  degrading  form  of 
capital  punishment.  The  wounds  would  not  cause  death,  or 
certainly  not  soon ;  the  painful  position  would  not  be  speedily 
fatal.  It  is  commonly  considered  that  starvation  and  thirst 
are  the  main  causes  of  the  death  of  one  who  is  crucified. 
But  their  operation  is  hastened  by  the  wounds  and  the  pain, 
as  sufferers  usually  die  in  from  three  days  to  seven.  Their 
sufferings  are  sometimes  shortened,  either  from  mercy  or  other 
motives  ;  and  they  are  put  to  death  by  a  sword-thrust  or 
strangling,  or,  if  it  is  not  intended  to  show  any  mercy, 
by  breaking  the  larger  bones  in  succession  until  the  shock 
terminates  life.  In  this  way  the  thieves  were  killed,  because 
of  the  approaching  Sabbath.  "  But  when  they  came  to  Jesus 
they  saw  that  he  was  dead  already."  He  was  crucified  about 
the  third  hour  and  died  about  the  ninth  hour,  so  that  he  hung 
suspended  on  the  cross  only  about  six  hours,  —  from  about 
three  hours  before  noon  to  three  hours  after,  —  the  twelve 
hours  of  the  day  beginning  with  the  Jews  at  sunrise  and 
ending  at  sunset,  the  sixth  hour  being  always  at  noon.  This 
was  far  too  brief  a  time  for  the  physical  suffering  of  cruci- 
fixion to  destroy  bodily  life,  and  infidels  have  often  asserted 
that  our  Lord  had  only  fainted,  and  revived  after  removal ; 
forgetting  that  a  spear-thrust,  which  the  flow  of  water  min- 
gled with  blood  proved  to  have  pierced  the  pericardium,  must 
inevitably  have  caused  death.  Yes,  the  period  was  too  brief 
for  death  from  the  physical  suffering  endured.  But  within 
that  period  an  internal  conflict  came  to  a  consummation 
wholly  unendurable  by  physical  life,  and  unimaginable  by 
human  intellect 

Theologians  and  preachers  constantly  speak  of  "  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  cross."  The  phrase  is  inaccurate.  IS  they  said 
"  the  sufferings  on  the  cross,"  their  words  would  express  a 
deeper  truth  than  the  human  understanding  has  ever  sounded 
or  ever  will. 

Whoever  "  takes  up  his  cross  "  to  follow  Him  who  died 


OF  THE   CUP  HE  DRANK  WE  DRINK.        401 

upon  the  cross,  tastes  this  woe.  But  the  full  cup  was  never 
presented  but  to  Him  by  whom  it  was,  and  by  whom  alone  it 
could  have  been,  drank  and  drained,  —  drank  and  drained,  for 
us ;  for  you,  for  me,  for  every  man  that  has  lived  or  ever 
shall  live. 


26 


402  THE  DIVINE  AND   THE  HUMAN. 


CHAPTER    XYI. 

OF  THE  DIVINE  AND   THE   HUMAN. 

My  title-page  indicates,  what  has  probably  been  obvious  to 
the  reader  of  the  preceding  chapters,  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
Divine  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  centre  and  the  sum 
of  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  New  Church.  In  treating  of 
every  subject,  and  in  the  presentment  of  every  truth,  this  has 
been  assumed  and  understood.  It  has  always  been,  in  fact, 
referred  to,  although  not  always  by  name,  or  expressly. 
Sometimes  it  has  been  spoken  of  more  distinctly.  And  now 
it  will  be  attempted  to  exhibit  this  doctrine  with  as  much 
clearness  as  is  in  my  power,  in  this  brief  way. 

Divinity  and  Humanity  !  What  ideas  are  there  within  the 
scope  of  human  thought  more  distinct  and  more  different. 
They  seem  to  stand  at,  or  rather  to  constitute  the  very  poles 
of  thought.  And  they  do  so  in  fact ;  and  therefore,  if  they 
can  be  brought  together,  if  they  can  be  made  to  approach 
until  they  reach  each  other  and  unite  and  become  one,  that 
one  must  cover  the  whole  sphere  of  thought  and  of  being. 

What  ideas  are  more  distinct,  and  what  are  more  opposite, 
in  the  common  view  ?  Nor  is  this  view  altogether  erroneous. 
Opposite  they  are,  and  profoundly  opposite,  as  they  exist 
under  some  conditions,  and  are  presented  under  some  aspects. 
But,  in  reference  to  this  very  opposition,  the  doctrine  of  the 
New  Church  may  be  stated  briefly  in  the  following  propo- 
sitions :  — 

Divinity  and  Humanity,  in  their  essence  and  origin  One, 
have  been  made  distinct,  but  not  opposed,  by  Divine  Love. 


CO-OPEBATION  AND   CONJUNCTION.  403 

They  have  been  brought  into  opposition  to  each  other  by 
that  moral  evil  which  comes  from  the  abuse  of  human 
freedom. 

All  the  influence  of  Divine  Providence,  in  all  worlds  and 
all  ages,  and  in  reference  to  all  persons,  has  ever  had  for  its 
end  the  removal  of  this  opposition. 

This  end  Jesus  Christ  consummated. 

By  the  work  which  He  wrought,  Divinity  and  Humanity, 
which  were  originally  one  in  the  Divine,  were  made  to  be 
again  one  in  the  Human.  Thereby  the  Human  was  made 
Divine ;  thereby  a  goal  or  end  was  given  towards  which  man 
may  for  ever  advance.  In  the  Lord,  the  Divine  and  Human 
were  made  one  by  a  perfect  and  absolute  union.  This  can 
take  place  in  no  man.  But  in  man  there  may  be  —  not  a 
union,  but  a  conjunction,  —  a  co-operation  in  influence  and  in 
act  and  result.  This  conjunction  begins  at  the  flrst  moment 
when  any  voluntary  co-operation  begins ;  and  it  may  advance 
for  ever  with  never-ending  progress. 

The  truth,  that  the  one  end  of  the  whole  of  the  Divine 
Providence  and  action  is  to  create  a  being  who,  while  neces- 
sarily finite,  because  created,  may  yet  approach  God  with  an 
eternal  and  indefinite  advance ;  —  this  truth  is  the  key  to  all 
the  questions  which  the  Providence  of  God  and  the  nature  of 
man,  and  the  relations  of  God  to  man,  present. 

The  mere  statement  of  these  propositions  will  probably 
teach  but  little  to  any  minds  not  already  acquainted  with 
these  truths.  They  can  be  made  intelligible  to  others  only 
by  some  explanation ;  and  this,  so  far  as  I  am  able,  I  wiU 
now  endeavor  to  give. 

I  must  begin  with  the  idea  of  Divinity,  and  the  idea  of 
Humanity.  Of  these,  the  one  is  infinite  and  the  other  is  finite. 
Any  attempt  to  give  any  idea  of  divinity  is,  therefore,  an 
attempt  of  a  finite  mind  to  form  and  to  convey  to  finite  minds 
an  idea  of  the  Infinite.  And  this  may  seem  at  once  so  ut- 
terly impossible  that  the  attempt  must  appear  to  be  unwise. 


404  THE  INFINITE  IN  SCIENCE. 

It  may  be,  however,  that  further  reflection  will  show  us  that 
the  human  mind  has  some  power  of  approaching  and  contem- 
plating the  idea  of  the  infinite ;  that  it  has  in  other  directions 
and  in  other  connections  constantly  exercised  this  power,  and 
endeavored  to  approach  and  to  make  use  of  this  idea ;  and 
that  all  its  best  progress  has  been  founded  upon  the  exercise 
of  this  power. 

Let  us  look,  for  example,  at  mathematics.  This  rigorous 
science  would,  more  than  any  other,  disclaim  and  discoun- 
tenance any  attempt  to  form  an  adequate  idea  of  the  infinite ; 
for  the  very  meaning  of  the  word  makes  it  an  obvious  impos- 
sibility. And  yet  the  higher  mathematics  assumes  the  idea 
of  an  infinite,  —  of  the  infinitely  small  and  the  infinitely  large, 
of  infinite  increase  and  infinite  decrease,  and  of  the  infinite 
continuance  of  ratios,  in  the  whole  of  its  work ;  and,  indeed, 
works  with  this  idea  as  its  instrument  in  nearly  all  that  it 
does.  One  name  in  frequent  use  still  for  a  very  important 
system  of  mathematical  .research  is  the  calculus  of  infinites; 
and  the  results  of  this  calculus  are  of  the  utmost  practical 
importance,  not  only  in  astronomy,  but  in  most  of  the 
branches  of  applied  science. 

Now,  what  is  meant  by  this  ?  Perhaps  it  is  that  all  high 
and  far-reaching  inquiry  finds  itself  recognizing  an  infinite, 
approaching  an  infinite,  and  measuring  its  own  advance  and 
success  by  this  approach  to  an  infinite ;  and  must  assume  this 
infinite  as  the  basis  of  its  reasoning,  and  continue  to  assume 
it  and  make  use  of  the  assumption  in  all  its  action. 

A  very  eminent  philosopher  states  a  proposition  which 
seems  to  me  to  bear  upon  what  has  been  said.  He  proposes 
that  there  should  be  a  recognized  science,  which,  as  I  under- 
stand him,  should  have  for  its  especial  object  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  beginnings,  the  foundations,  of  all  sciences.  He 
founds  this  proposition  upon  the  fact,  that  all  sciences,  as  they 
are  investigated  upward,  are  seen  to  lead  far  away  towards  an 
infinite,  or  at  least  indefinite,  unknown.     He  instances  many 


THE  SCIENCE   OF  BELIGION.  405 

particular  sciences  as  illustrative  of  this ;  and  remarks  far- 
ther, that  all  these  sciences,  as  they  thus  go  forward,  appear 
to  converge.  They  thus  suggest  that  this  vast  and  distant  un- 
known, as  it  would  give  the  key  to  one  of  them,  so  it  would 
to  others,  and  may  thus  he  r.egarded  as  the  common  fountain 
of  all.  I  should  express  the  conclusion  to  which  his  remarks 
lead  my  mind  thus :  that  the  Infinite,  which  must  be  One, 
contains  all  truth,  and  is  the  source  of  all  truth,  and  that  all 
forms  or  modes  of  science  or  knowledge  radiate  in  various 
directions  from  this,  like  rays  from  a  centre.  It  would  then 
follow,  that  the  more  nearly  we  can  approach  this  centre,  or 
the  more  just  is  our  idea  of  the  infinite,  the  nearer  we  stand 
to  the  centre,  and  the  more  we  possess  of  a  light  which  may 
shine  forth  upon  all  the  radii  of  thought. 

All  that  has  been  said  is  true  of  religion,  regarded  as  a 
science.  Not  more  true  of  religion  than  of  other  sciences, 
but  more  prominently,  more  immediately  true.  Because  as 
the  essence,  sum  and  substance  of  all  religious  truth,  is  the 
relation  of  God  to  man,  we  encounter  the  idea  of  the  Infinite 
at  once,  and  stand  before  it  face  to  face. 

What  we  have  said  on  this  subject  leads  to  this  simple 
conclusion.  We  can  never  attain  to  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
Infinite.  But  we  may  have  some  idea  of  it;  may  use  this 
imperfect  idea  safely  and  usefully ;  and  may  advance,  with 
never-ending  progress,  in  the  development  and  improvement 
of  this  idea. 

Let  us  apply  this  principle  to  religious  science. 

Its  first  and  fundamental  instruction  is,  that  there  is  a  God, 
who  created  and  governs  the  universe,  and  has  laid  certain 
commands  upon  men,  and  will  reward  their  obedience  and 
punish  their  disobedience. 

There  is  nothing  in  all  this  which  an  immature  or  feeble 
intellect  —  the  child  or  the  simple  man  —  may  not  clearly  and 
usefully  apprehend.     But,  can  the  human  mind  go  farther  ? 

We  all  learn,  as  soon  as  we  learn  any  thing,  something 


408  AN  IDEA   OF  THE  INFINITE. 

about  what  it  is  to  love  or  not  to  love,  to  be  wise  or  foolish, 
to  have  power  and  strength  or  to  be  weak.  And  any  one 
inquiring  what  God  is,  may  easily  form  the  idea  of  one  who 
has  more  and  better  love,  and  wisdom,  and  power,  tlian  we 
have,  and  than  anybody  we  know  possesses.  And  we  may 
carry  this  idea  forward  to  the  belief  that  God  has  more  of 
these  than  any  man  has,  or  can  have ;  and  even  so  far  as  to 
suppose  that  He  has  more  of  these  than  all  men  together  have. 

Here  then,  the  foundation  of  all  religious  belief  is  laid.  We 
hold  a  truth,  which  we  never  need  to  lose.  A  truth,  which 
all  conceivable  or  possible  progress  in  religious  knowledge  will 
only  confirm,  and  rest  upon  as  its  immovable  foundation. 

We  liave  here  then,  an  idea  of  the  Infinite,  which  is  very 
imperfect,  but  which  is  easily  acquired  and  is  just  and  accurate 
and  safe  and  useful  as  far  as  it  goes.  But  can  we  not  go  far- 
ther? Certainly  we  can.  K  we  go  away  from  this  belief, 
we  go  into  error ;  but  holding  it  firmly,  there  is  no  limit,  and 
through  eternity  there  will  be  no  limit,  to  our  advancing 
knowledge  of  the  nature  and  operation  of  the  Infinite.  And 
this  is  precisely  the  end  which  all  the  study  of  the  science  of 
Religion  must  ever  have  before  it. 

Not  only  is  this  true  of  the  idea  of  God,  or  the  Infinite,  but 
it  is  equally  true  of  each  and  every  important  religious  doc- 
trine. Coming  from  an  infinite  centre  and  wholeness  of 
truth,  it  has  within  it  an  infinite.  But  coming  down  to  man, 
it  is  assimilated  and  adapted  to  the  human  mind ;  and  in  its 
simplest  form  may  be  apprehended  and  used  by  all,  and  then 
studied  to  advantage  and  better  and  better  comprehended  by 
the  strongest  intellects,  for  ever. 

The  last  perfection  of  human  folly  is  the  refusal  to  receive 
and  apprehend  the  idea  of  God,  or  the  infinite,  or  of  religious 
doctrine,  in  its  simple  and  accessible  form  or  measure,  because 
it  is  not  possible,  at  once,  to  lay  hold  upon  it  in  its  elevation, 
and  define  the  infinite. 

And  yet  this  is  a  very  common  error.     It  is  the  error  of 


THE  IDEA   OF  DIVINITY.  407 

all  those  persons,  —  numerous  in  all  ages,  very  numerous  in 
this,  —  who  reject  religious  truth,  and  deny  its  reality,  and 
assert  its  falsity,  because  it  transcends  the  bounds  of  their 
understanding,  or  because,  if  they  are  thinking  persons,  they 
see  that  in  its  wholeness,  it  transcends  the  limits  of  all  created 
and  finited  intellect. 

To  apply  this  principle  honestly  and  fully  to  all  the  branches 
of  knowledge  and  all  the  treasures  of  thought,  would  degrade 
the  human  intellect  below  the  lowest  point  to  which  humanity 
has  yet  fallen. 

If  any  one  doubts  this,  let  me  ask  of  him,  what  idea  he 
has  above  mere  sensuous  thought,  which  he  fully  under^ 
stands  in  its  entirety,  its  beginning,  its  ending  and  its  connec- 
tions. He  who  would  not  answer,  I  have  no  such  thought, 
must  have  a  feeble  intellect,  and  an  imperfect  knowledge  of 
the  difference  between  understanding  and  not  imderstand- 
ing. 

And  yet  the  simple  avoidance  of  this  error  is  all  that  we 
need  to  do  in  respect  of  the  idea  of  the  Divinity.  Let  us 
hold  this  idea  in  its  simple  and  apprehensible  form.  Let 
us  cling  to  it  so.  Let  us  call  all  that  obscures  or  enfeebles  this 
fundamental  idea,  falsity.  And  then  let  this  idea  grow,  and 
shine  with  increasing  radiance,  as  our  religious  knowledge 
advances  and  expands. 

How  full  the  Bible  is  of  advice  and  encouragement  to 
those  who  hold  resolutely  what  truth  they  have,  in  the  midst 
of  the  throes  and  struggle  of  thought,  and  the  sense  of  utter 
darkness  which  mark  the  night  of  the  conflicts  by  which  we  go 
slowly  and  step  by  step  up  the  ascent  towards  light,  the  light 
of  morning,  of  a  morning  without  clouds.  And  how  fiill  of 
warning  against  the  miserable  folly,  which  casting  away  what' 
we  might  securely  hold,  labors  to  construct  for  ourselves  out 
of  our  fantasies,  a  home  for  our  understanding. 

"  Who  is  among  you  that  feareth  the  Lord,  that  obeyeth  the. 
voice  of  His  serv^it,  that  walketh  in  darkness  and  hath  no 


408  OF  THE  HUMAN. 

light  ?  Let  him  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  and  stay  upon 
his  God.  Behold  all  ye  that  kindle  a  fire,  that  compass  your- 
selves about  with  sparks ;  walk  in  the  light  of  your  fire,  and 
in  the  sparks  that  you  have  kindled.  This  shall  ye  have  of 
my  hand.     Ye  shall  lie  down  in  sorrow." 


OF   THE   HUMAN. 

In  passing  froin  a  consideration  of  the  Divine  to  that  of 
the  Human,  it  may  seem  as  if  we  pass  from  the  infinite  to 
the  finite ;  and  therefore  from  a  topic  concerning  which  we 
can  form  only  the  most  elementary  and  imperfect  notions,  to 
one  which  lies  in  its  length  and  breadth  before  us,  and  is  every- 
where accessible  to  thought.     But  it  is  not  quite  so. 

There  are  some  consequences  following  necessarily  from 
the  infinity  of  the  divine  nature,  which  affect  importantly  any 
conclusions  we  may  form  concerning  the  human  nature.  For 
if  God  be  infinite.  He  must  be  in  some  sense.  All.  There 
can  be  nothing  wholly  outside  of  Him  and  independent  of 
Him.  For  if  where  this  was  He  was  not,  this  would  at  once 
put  a  limit  to  Him.  He  then  is  not  only  Life,  and  not  only 
has  Life  in  and  from  Himself,  but  He  alone  has  life  of  Him- 
self. Nor  can  there  be  life,  which  in  itself  and  in  its  origin 
is  other  than  His  life,  or  is  Life  independent  of  Him.  But 
other  things  may  have  life  if  their  life  is  derived  from  the 
divine  life  and  only  so ;  and  therefore  Life  in  all  things  that 
live,  is  His  Life  in  its  origin  and  theirs  only  by  derivation 
from  Him. 

In  Exodus  iii.  14, "  God  said  unto  Moses,  I  am  that  I  am  ; 
and  He  said.  Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto  the  children  of  Israel ; 
*I  am'  hath  sent  me  unto  you."  And  in  Exodus  vi.  3, 
"  I  appeared  unto  Abraham,  unto  Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob,  God 
Almighty;  but  by  this  name  Jehovah  was  I  not  known 
to  them."  The  name  Jehovah  means,  as  nearly  as  we  can 
express  its  meaning  in  English,  "  I  am."     The  earliest  revela- 


OOD   CREATES  FROM  HIMSELF.  409 

tion  of  God  to  man,  and  the  revelation  of  Himself  which  He 
makes  to  every  man  in  the  earliest  stages  of  thought  concern- 
ing Him,  is  as  God  Almighty ;  as  a  God  of  power,  of  all 
power,  Almighty ;  it  is  a  farther  and  a  higher  revelation  that 
He  is  Being  itself;  and  this  is  a  truth  which  is  ever  ascend- 
ing in  the  mind  and  ever  widening  in  its  consequences,  as  it  is 
contemplated  with  intelligence  and  reverence. 

Considerations  of  this  kind  lead  us  to  a  conclusion  which 
is  generally  expressed  by  saying  that  God  creates  the 
universe  from  Himself.  There  are  three  ideas  we  can  have 
concerning  the  created  universe.  One  is,  that  it  exists  of 
itself,  and  in  its  totality  is  God,  which  is  commonly  called 
Pantheism.  Another  is,  that  God  created  it  by  the  mere  act 
of  His  will  out  of  nothing.  The  third  is,  that  He  created  it 
from  Himself.  This  last  idea  is  that  which  the  New  Church 
adopts. 

It  cannot  accept  Pantheism ;  it  can  only  reject  Pantheism 
with  horror ;  for  Pantheism  is  only  Atheism  under  a  disguise 
which  is  almost  no  disguise.  Nor  can  it  believe  that  the 
universe  was  created  out  of  nothing.  We  can  form  no  con- 
ception which  these  words  would  express  ;  and  therefore  they 
present  no  object  for  belief.  The  ancient  maxim,  that  from 
nothing  only  nothing  can  come,  seems  to  be  a  law  of  thought, 
to  which  we  cannot  refuse  obedience. 

It  is  true  that  it  is  common  to  suppose  God  creating  by 
willing ;  creating  light  by  saying,  "  Be  light."  But  if  we 
analyze  the  thought  which  so  expresses  itself,  we  see  that 
we  think  God  is  there  where  He  creates.  That  He  is  there 
in  His  power,  in  His  will,  and  all  that  constitutes  His 
presence.  It  is  not  nothing  which  is  there,  but  God  who  is 
there  ;  and  therefore  the  possibility  of  every  thing. 

And  when  He  acts  in  such  wise  as  to  create.  He  creates 
from  Himself.  Because  He  is  infinite,  where  He  is  not,  is 
nowhere ;  and  that  in  which  He  is  not,  is  nothing.  He 
is  in  every  thing;  and  every  thing  which  is,  exists  because 


410  PANTHEISM. 

He  is  in  it.  And  every  thing  is  individually  and  specifically 
that  thing  which  it  is,  because,  being  in  it.  He  wills  that  it  be 
that  thing  and  not  another.     And  this  is  creation. 

This  difficulty  now  presents  itself.  If  we  thus  hold  the 
universal  presence  of  God,  and  also  hold  that  every  thing 
exists  from  Him  and  by  virtue  of  His  presence,  do  we  not 
hold  Pantheism  ?  Our  answer  is,  that  the  Pantheism  we 
abhor  is  that  which  asserts  not  merely  that  God  is  in  every 
thing,  but  that  there  is  no  God  other  than  the  mass  or  totality 
of  all  these  things.  When  Pantheism  says,  God  is  in  all 
these  things,  it  does  not  say  what  it  means ;  it  would  come 
nearer  to  an  expression  of  its  belief,  if  it  said  as  it  does  some- 
times say,  that  God  is  all  these  things,  and  that  all  these 
things  constitute  God.  But  what  it  means  in  fact  is  this ; 
that  if  our  habits  of  thought  or  speech  require  us  to  talk  of 
God,  we  may  if  we  like  call  the  sum  of  natural  things  —  sub- 
stances and  forces  —  by  the  name  of  God. 

The  New  Church  shuns  and  dreads  this  falsity  just  as 
every  human  being  would  dread  annihilation.  It  holds,  first, 
as  the  constant  foundation  of  all  belief,  that  God  is  ;  and  that 
He  is  a  most  real  and  an  infinite  Person  ;  and  then,  never  per- 
mitting this  primary  belief  to  be  lost  or  obscured  or  weakened, 
it  holds  that  God  creates  all  things,  that  He  is  in  all  things, 
that  He  creates  them  by  being  in  them,  and  that  He  creates 
them  from  Himself. 

Then  comes  another  difficulty.  If  God  creates  all  things 
from  Himself,  and  is  in  all  things,  is  not  every  thing  God  if 
He  be  indivisible,  or  a  part  of  God  if  He  be  divisible.  Or, 
if  every  thing  which  exists  be  created  from  the  divine  sub- 
stance, and  is  infilled  with  the  divine  life,  is  not  every  thing 
Divine  ? 

The  answer  of  the  New  Church  is,  that  every  created  thing 
comes  from  a  divine  origin,  and  in  this  sense  may  be  said  to 
be  divine  in  its  origin.  But  as  it  exists,  and  as  it  is  Itself, 
no  created  thing  is  Divine. 


HOPE.  411 

The  love  of  God  causes  Him  to  impart  His  own  divine  Life 
to  man ;  but  so  to  impart  it,  that  it  becomes  in  man,  man's 
own  life.  And  as  another  necessary  means  or  element  of  the 
highest  happiness,  while  He  gives  to  man  His  own  divine  life 
to  become  and  be  the  man's  human  life,  He  gives  with  it,  a 
perfect  and  constant  consciousness  and  certainty  on  the  part 
of  man,  that  his  life  is  his  own  life,  and  that  he  is  Himself. 
For  any  approach  whatever  in  any  man  to  a  doubt  of  his  own 
identity  is  a  beginning  of  insanity.  This  consciousness  of 
identity  is  founded  upon,  or  rather  is  one  with,  a  consciousness 
that  his  life  is  his  own,  and  that  he  is  Himself. 

Nor  let  it  be  supposed  that  this  consciousness  of  man  that 
his  life  is  his  own  is  a  mere  illusion ;  a  permitted  illusion ; 
permitted  that  it  may  have  its  effect  upon  our  conduct  and 
character.  So  far  from  this,  it  is  an  inevitable  consciousness 
of  a  most  real,  most  certain,  most  absolute  fact,  —  the  most 
central  fact  of  human  nature. 

There  are  yet  other  elements  essential  to  the  highest  hap- 
piness and  therefore  belonging  to  human  nature.  One  of 
these  is  Hope ;  never-ending  hope :  and  therefore  never-end- 
ing progress.  To  make  this  possible,  human  life  begins  in  the 
man  himself  at  a  point  from  which  there  may  be  progi'ess  and 
all  progress ;  and  therefore  at  the  lowest  point ;  at  the  point 
at  which  and  from  which  every  thing  of  true  happiness 
must  be  accession,  gain,  progress.  And  then  there  must  be 
a  possibility  that  this  progress  may  be  unending,  or  eternal ; 
and  a  knowledge  that  it  may  be  so ;  and  a  hope  that  it  will 
be  so. 

It  is  difficult  to  suppose  that  any  one  can  believe  that  what- 
ever power  governs  man,  it  has  no  intention  or  desire  to  make 
him  ever  any  better  or  happier  upon  earth  than  he  is  now. 
Progress  through  the  past  is  certain.  It  is  difficult  to  see 
how  any  one  can  suppose  that  the  end  of  this  progress  has 
been  reached ;  or  that  all  has  been  done  which  could  be  done, 
and  that  man  has  become  as  good  and  as  happy  as  it  is  possi- 


412  DO   WE  PERISH  WHEN  WE  DIE^ 

ble  for  him  to  be.  All  men  probably,  all  certainly  wbo  are 
not  utterly  desolate  in  thought,  believe  that  in  some  way,  and 
in  some  far  distant  age,  society  is  to  be  improved,  and  men 
are  to  grow  individually  better  and  wiser  and  happier.  But 
let  us  push  our  hopes  or  our  imaginations  in  this  direction  as 
far  as  we  may,  the  question  will  come  before  the  mind,  how 
is  it  to  be  with  man  after  he  ceases  to  live  on  earth ;  and  we 
must  come  to  one  of  three  conclusions. 

One  is,  that  man  is  to  cease  to  be  when  this  life  terminates, 
and  that  this  being  true  reason  shows  this  to  be  true,  and 
shows  it  more  clearly  in  proportion  as  it  is  enlightened. 
Then  we  must  think  that  the  wiser  a  man  is  and  the  better, 
and  the  more  he  therefore  may  and  should  enjoy  and  value 
life,  the  more  clearly  he  will  see  that  it  is  but  a  fleeting  and 
momentary  thing.  And  the  wiser  he  is,  the  more  certain  he 
will  be  that  the  doom  of  extinction  is  always  impending  and 
must  come  after  a  few  moments  of  life ;  and  again,  the  wiser 
he  is,  the  fewer  these  moments  will  seem  to  him ;  and  if  they 
are  lengthened  and  he  grows  old,  every  step  of  his  growing 
wisdom  is  a  growing  certainty  that  right  before  him  and  very 
near  him,  and  constantly  approaching  him,  is  annihilation. 
But  there  can  be  no  real  happiness  where  this  conviction  pre- 
vails ;  and  if  it  be  seen  more  clearly  or  felt  more  strongly 
as  man  becomes  wiser,  then  the  advance  of  mankind  in  wis- 
dom and  intelligence  is  an  advance  in  unhappiness.  Can  we 
believe  this,  if  we  believe  that  there  is  a  God  and  that  He  is 
good? 

But  we  may  suppose  another  thing.  It  is,  that  while  it  is 
true  that  we  perish  when  we  die,  this  truth  is  hidden  from  us. 
We  are  mercifully  deceived.  In  all  manner  of  ways  the  vast 
majority  of  men  are  led  to  suppose  that  we  shall  or  at  least 
may  live  again ;  and  in  this  way  human  hope  and  happiness 
are  preserved.  If  we  believe  this,  we  must  believe  that  God 
fills  his  rational  creatures  with  falsehood.  Only  His  rational 
creatures,  for  to  the  brutes  He  gives  no  capacity  for  either  the 


WE  BO  NOT  PERISH  WHEN  WE  DIE.        413 

hope  or  the  fear.  But  to  His  rational  creatures  He  gives  the 
utmost  capacity  for  both ;  and  then  encourages  the  hope  and 
suppresses  the  fear  by  a  tissue  of  falsehoods ;  by  enveloping 
the  whole  man,  and  penetrating  all  his  thoughts  and  motives 
and  affections  and  his  whole  life,  and  this  more  and  more  as 
the  race  advances  and  as  the  individual  advances,  —  with  ab- 
solute falsity !  Must  not  a  rational  mind  turn  away  with 
disgust  from  such  a  theory  ? 

There  is  however  a  third  conclusion.  It  is,  that  man  may 
be  encouraged  to  this  hope  and  guarded  from  this  fear,  by  the 
revelation  to  him  of  his  immortality ;  and  that  this  revelation 
is  not  a  falsehood. 

Should  it  not  be  to  any  uncorrupted  mind,  strong  evidence 
of  immortality,  that  man  can  distinctly  think  of  it,  can  firmly 
believe  it,  can  hope  for  it ;  or  rather  that  he  cannot  but  think 
of  it,  desire  it,  and  hope  for  it.  In  the  lower  animals  all  fac- 
ulties of  mind  or  body  are  for  a  purpose ;  all  are  founded  on 
truth ;  all  constitute  or  indicate  actual  possibilities  of  enjoy- 
ment founded  upon  actual  fact.  Are  we  to  believe,  that  with 
man  alone,  the  highest  of  them  aU,  God  begins  His  work  of 
deception.  To  him  alone  He  gives  a  capacity  of  belief  and 
hope  which,  when  it  is  awakened  into  full  vigor,  becomes  the 
centre  of  his  whole  life ;  and  this  is  from  beginning  to  end  a 
lie,  and  nothing  but  a  lie.  And  certainly  it  is  only  a  lie 
unless  man  be  indeed  as  immortal  as  he  is  made  to  hope  that 
he  is. 

Besides  the  gift  of  divine  life  to  man,  to  become  and  to  be 
the  man's  own  life,  and  the  consciousness  of  this ;  and  the 
possibility  and  the  well-grounded  hope  of  eternal  progress, 
there  are  yet  other  elements  of  the  highest  human  happiness. 
That  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  most  important  of  these, 
is  the  knowledge  by  man  that  his  life  is  from  God ;  that  his 
life  is  his  own  only  because  it  is  given  to  liim  by  God  to  be 
his  own ;  and  that  it  is  and  will  be  so  given  from  God  and 


414  HUMAN  CONSCIOUSNESS. 

by  Him  always,  perpetually,  incessantly,  eternally ;  every  ca- 
pacity, every  act  or  feeling  or  thought,  being  at  eveiy  instant, 
the  effect  of  life  at  that  instant  coming  to  him  from  God, 
either  directly,  or  through  appointed  and  adapted  instru- 
ments. 

This  knowledge  forms  no  part  of  human  consciousness. 
It  does  not  begin  when  consciousness  begins.  It  is  not  in  the 
mind  of  any  man  who  does  not  learn  it.  They  who  begin  to 
rise  above  a  merely  animal  or  merely  natural  condition,  learn 
at  first,  only  that  they  are  dependent  upon  God.  As  they 
advance  in  knowledge  and  in  wisdom,  they  learn  that  His  love, 
His  wisdom  and  His  power,  are  constantly  guiding  and  govern- 
ing all  things,  and  that  every  good  thing  they  have  —  within 
them  or  without  them  —  is  His  gift.  But  the  consummation 
of  this  wisdom  is  in  the  certainty  that  life  itself  is  not  only 
His  gift,  but  is  the  continual  giving  of  His  own  life,  flowing 
into  man  to  become  man's  life. 

The  natural  man,  or  the  man  as  he  is  by  birth  into  this 
woi'ld,  at  first  knows  only  that  he  himself  is,  and  that  outside 
of  him  is  a  world  which  is  not  him.  Then,  if  he  thinks 
about  his  body  and  his  soul,  and  about  himself  as  living  and 
the  world  about  him  as  dead,  he  thinks  that  he  lives  because 
he  lives,  or  from  himself.  This  is  a  mere  falsity.  But  it  is 
an  illusion  permitted  to  the  natural  man,  while  he  thinks  only 
of  natural  things.  As  soon  however  as  this  falsity  comes  into 
spiritual  things,  as  soon  as  it  begins  to  affect  his  understand- 
ing of  his  existence  and  his  relations  as  a  spiritual  being,  it 
becomes  a  dangerous  falsity.  If  it  be  confirmed  in  his  mind, 
and  if  it  gives  character  to  all  his  thoughts  about  spiritual 
things,  it  becomes  a  destructive  falsity.  The  merely  natural 
man  believes  it ;  and  if  he  confirms  this  belief  in  himself,  he 
condemns  himself  to  be  for  ever  a  merely  natural  man.  As 
the  certainty  that  we  live  from  God,  and  by  the  constant  in- 
flowing of  His  own  Life  to  be  our  life,  is  the  consummation 
of  wisdom,  so  the  belief  that  our  life  is  our  own  life  inde- 


PROPBIUM.  415 

pendently  of  Him,  and  that  we  live  from  ourselves,  is  the 
consummation  of  all  falsehood. 

All  that  has  been  thus  far  said  of  human  nature  —  and 
much  more  —  is  included  in  the  doctrine  known  among  those 
who  accept  the  teachings  of  Swedenborg,  as  the  doctrine  of 
Proprium. 

This  Latin  word  is  the  neuter  of  proprius.  It  means 
(more  emphatically  than  any  other  word  in  any  language  I 
am  acquainted  with),  own,  or  that  which  is  one's  own.  From 
it  come  our  English  words  "  property,"  and  the  like.  All 
writers  in  Latin  use  freely  the  neuter  of  adjectives  as  sub- 
stantives. We  do  this  a  little  in  English.  Thus  we  say 
"  a  good  ;"  and  sometimes  we  say  "  a  brave,"  "a  white,"  "  a 
black,"  and  we  speak  of  the  "  sweets  "  of  peace  or  content- 
ment. "We  say,  however,  not  "  a  true,"  but  "  a  truth ; "  not 
"  a  beautiful,"  but  "  a  beauty,"  or  "  a  beautiful  thing ; "  not  "  a 
human,"  but  "  a  human  nature."  But  in  Latin  most  adjec- 
tives may  be  used  as  substantives ;  and  Swedenborg  so  uses 
many  of  them  constantly.  Thus,  he  uses  "  Propi'ium ; " 
as  when  he  says  God  gives  His  own  life  to  man  to  be 
"  proprium "  to  man.  It  would  be  an  exact  literal  trans- 
lation of  this  to  say,  to  be  "man's  own."  But  he  speaks 
so  often,  and  they  who  speak  or  write  of  his  doctrines  are 
obliged  to  speak  so  frequently  of  that  life  which  is  a  man's 
own,  that  we  adopt  the  word  Proprium,  and  speak  of  a 
man's  proprium,  or  a  human  proprium,  using  this  as  an 
English  word. 

Nor  let  it  be  supposed  that  in  the  preceding  remarks,  or 
in  any  thing  we  can  say,  we  attempt  to  give,  or  even  to  in- 
dicate, a  complete  explanation  of  this  doctrine.  The  better 
it  is  understood,  and  the  more  it  is  considered,  the  more  we 
shall  see  of  the  profound  truths  and  the  important  conclu- 
sions which  the  doctrine  reveals  and  explains.  It  is  the 
central  truth  of  the  relation  of  God  to  man,  and  of  the 
reciprocal   relation   of  man  to   God:    and,  therefore,  it   is 


416  GOD  ALONE  IS  LIFE. 

central  to  all  important  truths  and  principles  which  illustrate 
the  nature  of  God  and  the  character  and  purpose  of  His 
work ;  or  refer  to  the  nature  of  man,  to  our  possibilities  and 
our  perils,  our  hopes  and  our  destinies.  It  tells  us,  as  nothing 
else  can,  of  the  absolute  antagonism  to  selfishness,  of  that 
infinite  Love  which  gives  its  own  life  to  become  the  life  of 
beings  whom  it  creates  to  receive  it  and  hold  it  as  their  own, 
and  infinitely  desires  and  eternally  works  to  make  the  gift 
and  the  free  reception  of  it  more  and  more  full  for  ever. 
And  it  should  tell  us,  as  nothing  else  can,  that  the  one  great 
obstruction  to  the  reception  of  divine  life,  without  perver- 
sion, is  selfishness,  because  this  is  the  perfect  opposite  of 
the  divine  love. 

Belonging  to  this  doctrine  are,  especially,  three  great 
truths  :  —  First,  that  God  alone  lives  from  Himself,  or  alone 
has  Life  in  Himself,  or  alone  is  Life ;  Second,  that  this  divine 
life  becomes  human  life  by  continual  inflowing  into  man ; 
Third,  that  the  divine  life  thus  made  human,  and  thus  given 
to  man,  is  given  to  be  man's  own  life  (or  to  be  his  Proprium) 
with  the  freedom  which  necessarily  belongs  to  the  ownness 
of  life.  In  proportion  as  we  get  a  clear  comprehension  of 
these  truths,  we  shall  have  and  be  able  to  use  a  key  to  the 
great  problems  presented  by  human  life  in  all  its  aspects  ;  as, 
for  example,  freedom,  what,  and  whence  and  why ;  responsi- 
bility and  duty ;  the  consequences  of  conduct ;  the  methods 
and  the  ends  of  Divine  Providence ;  the  origin  and  the  nature 
of  evil. 

The  origin  of  evil !  What  topic  has  been  the  subject  of 
more  solicitous  inquiry  since  men  began  to  think  ?  That  its 
existence  is  to  be  accounted  for  by  human  freedom,  and  that 
it  was  even  made  inevitable  by  that  freedom,  has,  perhaps, 
always  been  seen.  For  if  St.  Augustine  was  the  first  to  give 
a  logical  exposition  of  this  view,  it  had  been  distinctly  inti- 
mated before  his  time.  Here,  then,  there  is  nothing  new  in 
the  philosophy  of  the  New  Church.     The  novelty  consists 


MAN  OTHER   THAN  GOB.  417 

in  founding  this  view  of  the  origin  of  evil  upon  the  origin 
of  freedom ;  and  in  founding  the  freedom  of  man  upon 
the  nature  of  God,  upon  His  infinite  love,  and  the  purposes 
which  that  Divine  nature  made  necessary. 

The  great  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Proprium,  at  least 
under  one  of  its  aspects,  may  also  be  considered  in  the  follow- 
ing form. 

God  cannot  cause  created  beings  to  live  except  by  giving 
them  life;  and  can  give  no  life  to  created  beings  but  His 
own,  because  there  is  no  other;  and  therefore  can  cause 
them  to  live  only  by  imparting  His  own  life  to  them  to 
become  in  them  their  life. 

They  must  be  other  beings,  or  beings  other  than  God,  in 
order  to  become  the  objects  of  that  infinite  Love  which  must 
have  such  objects.  It  seems  not  difficult  to  perceive,  that  if 
the  life  of  man  were  one  with  the  life  of  God  in  unbroken 
continuity,  there  would  be  nothing  within  him  to  give  to  his 
life  personal  quality  and  consciousness  as  of  his  own  life ; 
nothing  to  differentiate  (if  I  may  use  this  scientific  term) 
man  from  God ;  or  to  make  him  other  than  God.  Therefore, 
this  divine  life  becomes  in  man  his  own  life ;  and  man  is 
other  than  God,  because  he  is  made  to  be  Himself. 

But  I  must  pause,  and  not  even  attempt  to  give,  in 
this  slight  and  imperfect  sketch,  my  view  of  the  philos- 
ophy of  this  important  subject. 


27 


418  OF  TEE  DIVINE  HUMAN 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

OF   THE  DIVINE  HUMAN. 

The  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  lead  towards  a  just  idea  — 
just,  however  dim  —  of  the  only  Divine  Humanity ;  that  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

The  first  fact  to  be  stated,  is,  that  the  Father,  at  the  con- 
ception of  the  Virgin  Mary,  assumed  a  human  form ;  a  hu- 
man character  ;  a  human  proprium. 

This  human  proprium  was  her  proprium.  It  therefore 
contained  as  proclivities  to  evil  and  falsity,  all  that  had  come 
to  her  from  her  long  line  of  ancestry,  male  or  female. 

The  question  we  have  to  consider  then  is,  In  what  way 
vfas  this  assumed  humanity  made  divine  ? 

Let  us  begin  with  considering  another  question ;  In  what 
way  is  the  human  proprium  of  any  man  regenerated,  and 
made  to  be  good? 

Every  man's  proprium  contains  proclivities  to  all  the  evil 
committed  and  all  the  falsity  held  by  all  his  ancestry.  Such 
(and  only  such)  of  those  proclivities  as  he  may  be  made  able, 
in  freedom  and  voluntarily,  to  resist  and  suppress,  are  per- 
mitted by  Divine  Providence  to  come  into  activity.  Then 
the  man  knows  them,  may  recognize  them  for  what  they  aie, 
resist  and  overcome  them.  If  he  can  do  this  when  they  are 
only  so  far  active  as  to  be  within  his  consciousness,  it  is 
better  for  him  than  if  he  waits  until  they  come  forth  into  act, 
into  sin ;  but  he  may  even  then  overcome  them  and  put  them 
away  by  repentance  and  reformation. 

But  the  lif«>  of   the  man  flows  into   liim  from  the  only 


THE  WAY  OF  REOENERATION.  419 

origin  of  life,  in  two  ways.  Direct  and  immediate  influx  from 
Grod  causes  him  to  be,  to  live,  and  for  ever  preserves  his  life. 
Then  mediate  influx  reaches  him  through  good  or  evil  spirits. 
By  this  mediation  or  instrumentality,  the  inflowing  life,  as 
determined  by  them  who  are  these  mediums  or  instruments,  is 
precisely  adapted  to  him ;  is  precisely  that  which  is  suited  to  his 
nature  and  may  be  most  useful  to  him.  And  the  character 
of  it  is  at  all  times  and  in  all  respects  determined  by  his  own 
character  (which  by  affinity  determines  his  associates)  with 
only  such  modifications  as  it  is  possible  for  Divine  Providence 
to  make  —  without  suppressing  his  freedom  —  for  the  purpose 
of  enabling  and  leading  him  to  improve  his  character. 

It  follows  therefore  that  whenever  he  resists  and  over- 
comes and  puts  away  an  evil,  he  resists  and  overcomes  and 
drives  far  from  him  the  evil  spirits  through  whom  this  evU  was 
animated. 

And  because  all  evil  is  perverted  good,  it  follows  also  that 
when  he  resists  and  drives  away  evil  spirits,  he  invites  and 
receives  the  opposite  good  spirits ;  and  receives  from  them,  or 
rather  from  the  Lord  through  them,  the  good  that  is  opposite 
to  that  evil. 

This  is  the  way  of  regeneration.  It  is  opened,  by  the 
Lord,  because  it  leads  man  to  his  utmost  possible  happiness. 
It  is  the  only  way  of  regeneration.  Only  by  sins  and  falsi- 
ties is  human  nature  made  opposite  to  the  divine  nature ; 
and  when,  and  so  far  as,  these  sins  and  falsities  are  overcome 
and  put  away,  is  that  opposition  removed.  And  this  is  pre- 
cisely the  way  in  which  the  human  nature  assumed  by  the 
Lord  was  made  divine. 

In  every  man,  those  proclivities  and  only  those  which  he 
can  be  enabled  to  resist  and  overcome  in  his  own  freedom 
are  animated  or  become  known  to  him.  But  the  paternal 
life  of  Jesus  Christ  was  not  limited  or  qualified  by  its  trans- 
mission through  a  human  father.  It  was  infinite ;  it  had 
perfect  wisdom  and  perfect  power.     It  was  therefore  possible 


420  THE   COMBATS   OF  OUR   LORD. 

for  him  to  combat,  resist  and  overcome  all  the  proclivities  to 
evil  which  were  in  His  assumed  human  nature.  Therefore 
He  knew  them  all ;  and  did  combat  victoriously  with  all,  and 
did  put  them  all  away. 

The  incarnation  of  the  Father  did  not  take  place  until 
"  the  fulness  of  time."  That  is,  until  Mary  had  received  in 
her  own  proprium,  proclivities  or  tendencies  to  all  possible 
evils  and  falsities  :  all,  that  is,  generically,  but  not  specifically ; 
or  all  kinds  of  evil  and  falsity,  though  not  all  the  particular 
forms  of  evil  or  the  false. 

It  follows  therefore  that  if  all  the  proclivities  to  evil  and 
the  false  in  our  Lord's  assumed  human  were  awakened  and 
permitted  to  become  active,  all  possible  evils  and  falsities 
tempted  him.  Against  all  he  fought.  Over  all  he  triumphed. 
Of  this  infinite  warfare  we  can  form  only  the  faintest  con- 
ception. But  so  far  as  we  know  what  it  is  to  be  tempted, 
what  it  is  to  resist  evil,  and  what  it  is  to  overcome  when 
tempted,  so  far  our  conception  of  our  Lord's  temptation  and 
warfare  is  just,  however  inadequate. 

No  man  ever  did,  or  ever  will  or  can,  thus  know  and  thus 
resist  and  overcome  more  than  a  small  part  of  the  evil  that  is 
in  him.  But  our  Lord  knew  the  whole,  engaged  in  active 
combat  with  the  whole,  and  conquered  the  whole. 

The  combat  was  in  Him,  as  it  must  be  in  us,  one  of  con- 
flict alternating  with  victory ;  of  the  suffering  and  humiliation 
of  conflict  alternating  with  the  triumphant  sense  of  victory. 
He  gave  expression  again  and  again  to  feelings  proper  to  all 
these  states.  At  times  it  seemed  to  Him  that  the  Father 
was  distant,  and  that  He  was  left  alone  in  His  temptations. 
Feelings  of  this  kind  expressed  themselves  variously,  in  the 
different  texts  in  which  He  speaks  of  the  Father  as  other 
than  Himself;  and  the  last  extreme  found  utterance  in  the 
words,  "  My  God !  my  God !  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  " 
At  other  times  the  father  was  very  near ;  and  then  He  could 
Bay  such  things  as.  "  I  and  the  Father  are  One."     And  at  the 


EOW  THE  HUMAN  BECAME  DIVINE.         421 

opposite  extreme  from  the  terrible  despair  upon  the  cross, 
stands  the  Transfiguration  on  the  Mount.  No  man  has  ever 
known  and  no  man  can  ever  know  either  of  these  extremes 
as  He  knew  them.  But  many  men  have  known  from  their 
own  religious  experience  the  suffering  that  comes  when  their 
higher  and  their  lower  natures  are  in  conflict,  and  the  peace 
that  comes  when  they  are  reconciled. 

In  so  far  as  man  puts  an  evil  away,  he  receives  into  him- 
self the  opposite  good;  and  when  the  good  thus  received 
prevails  over  the  evil,  the  man  becomes  so  far  regenerate. 
He  becomes  prevailingly,  but  not  universally,  nor  perfectly 
good.  So  much  as  this  is  now  possible  for  every  man,  and  it 
is  all  that  is  possible  for  any  man. 

But  because  our  Lord  resisted  and  put  away  from  his 
assumed  human,  all  evil,  he  received  into  his  assumed  human 
all  good.  And  because  he  put  away  all  evil,  perfectly,  the 
good  that  he  received  was  perfect.  It  was  wholly  without 
stain,  or  qualification  or  limitation.  That  is,  it  was  Infinite. 
That  is,  it  was  the  whole  of  the  good  in  its  absolute  perfec- 
tion, that  flows  forth  from  the  Father  who  alone  is  good,  and 
who  is  only  good.  That  is,  it  was  Divine.  Thus  our  Lord 
received  into  his  assumed  human,  Divine  good  or  Divine 
life;  and  thus  that  human  became  Divine,  a  Divine  Hu- 
manity. 

Whenever  man  resists  an  evil,  he  resists,  and  enters  into 
combat  with,  the  evil  spirit  through  whom  it  reaches  him ;  and 
if  he  overcomes  in  this  combat,  he  overcomes  this  evil  spirit. 
Because  our  Lord  resisted  all  evil,  he  entered  into  combat 
TFith  aU  the  evil  spirits  in  the  kingdom  of  evil,  and  overcame 
them  all.  At  this  "  fulness  of  time,"  all  good  had  become 
perverted  into  evil.  Therefore,  resisting,  overcoming  and 
putting  away  all  this  evil,  was  putting  away  all  evil ;  was 
putting  away  from  humanity  all  evil  and  so  permitting  all 
good  to  flow  into  humanity ;  all  good,  infinite  good,  the  whole 
divine  good ;  and  so,  making  humanity  divine. 


422  REDEMPTION. 

Moreover,  falsity  and  sin  had  accumulated,  or,  in  other 
words,  evil  spirits  had  multiplied  and  acquired  power,  until 
mankind  were  losing  the  power  of  resistance  in  freedom. 
There  is  no  other  salvation  than  salvation  from  sin.  No  man 
can  ever  be  saved  from  his  sins,  excepting  in  and  through  his 
own  freedom.  This  necessity  arises  from  his  nature.  He  is 
so  made,  and  could  not  have  been  made  otherwise  by  infinite 
love  and  wisdom,  because  there  can  be  no  personal  individu 
ality  without  self-determination ;  and  if  there  be  no  personal 
individuality,  there  is  no  person  to  whom  any  thing  can  be 
given  ;  there  is  nothing.  The  question  never  is,  whether  a 
man  can  be  saved  from  his  sins  by  an  act  of  Omnipotence. 
If  this  were  possible,  none  would  be  lost.  But  the  q^uestion 
always  is,  can  he  be  saved  in  his  freedom.  At  the  time  of 
our  Lord's  coming,  evil  influences  had  grown  so  potent,  they 
were  suffocating  this  freedom ;  they  were  making  it  impos- 
sible that  he  should  be  saved,  in  the  freedom  without  which  it 
was  not  possible  that  he  should  be  saved.  Men  were  in 
danger  of  deadly  assault  from  enemies  against  whom  combat 
was  every  day  more  difficult.  From  this  oppression,  this 
peril,  this  captivity,  this  death,  man  was  for  ever  Redeemed. 
For  the  Lord,  our  Redeemer,  brought  the  hells  for  ever  into 
order,  by  a  combat  with  them  in  human  freedom ;  brought 
them  into  that  kind  of  order  suited  to  them,  and  to  the  use 
they  can  perform.  He  was  a  man.  In  His  human  freedom. 
He  alone  had  power  enough  to  overcome  not  only  some,  but 
all  evil  influences  and  all  evil  spirits.  He  had  power  enough 
to  overcome  all  so  perfectly  and  thoroughly,  that  all  of  them 
together  should  never  have  the  power  of  destroying  a  man's 
freedom ;  although  they  might  have  the  power  of  animating 
his  evils  so  far  as  he  could  in  freedom  put  them  away  ;  for  it 
is  well  for  man  that  these  evils  should  be  animated  that  they 
might  be  put  away.  The  devils  were  not  made  angels,  fpr 
there  is  but  one  way  in  which  the  evil  can  become  good,  and 
that  way  they  had  closed  against  themselves.      The  hells 


THE   TRINITY.  423 

were  not  destroyed,  nor  their  inhabitants  annihilated.  But 
they  were,  once  for  all,  reduced  into  their  own  order. 
Thenceforward  it  was  still  their  life  to  love  evil,  to  inspire 
evil ;  for  their  life  was  permanently  a  life  of  self-love  —  no 
other  life  being  possible  for  them.  But  they  and  their  influence 
are  so  controlled,  that  while  they  may  bring  to  the  knowledge 
of  every  man  such  of  his  evils  as  he  may  cast  off,  and  while 
they  may  equilibrate  the  good  influences  of  the  heavens,  in 
such  wise  that  man  may,  in  freedom,  do  his  share  of  the 
work  of  regeneration,  which  can  be  done  only  in  freedom,  — 
neither  all  hell  nor  any  devil  can  pass  a  hairbreadth  beyond 
this  line.  Thus  it  may  be  said,  that  by  the  Glorification,  or 
making  divine,  of  the  assumed  human,  even  the  hells  were 
Redeemed,  in  so  far  as  they  were  delivered  from  the  unspeak- 
ably and  unimaginably  fearful  consequences  which  must  have 
ensued,  had  they  been  delivered  up  to  the  dominion  of  their 
own  unbridled  lusts,  and  to  the  unrestrained  wickedness  of 
each  other.  For  their  own  good,  as  for  the  good  of  men  on 
earth,  has  infinite  love  compelled  them  to  become  instru- 
ments of  His  love,  and  thus  co-operate  —  although  not  wil- 
lingly nor  consciously  —  with  angels  whose  life  and  joy  it  is 
to  help  man  in  the  way  to  salvation. 

Hereafter,  for  ever,  no  man  can  be  tempted,  and  be  willing 
to  enter  into  combat  with  the  evil,  but  the  Lord  stands  by  him, 
with  even  his  Divine  Wisdom,  guided,  as  it  is  permitted  us  to 
feel,  by  his  divine-human  experience,  and  even  his  Divine 
Love,  warmed  by  his  divine-human  sympathy,  and  ready  to 
give  to  the  suffering  and  imperilled  combatant,  if  he  will  but 
receive  it,  the  very  strength  which  He  Himself  exerted,  in 
combat  against  that  very  evil.  For  ever  and  for  ever,  in  all 
man's  direst  needs,  our  Lord  and  Saviour  is  ready  to  come, 
seeks  to  come,  in  His  Holy  Spirit.  A  Trinity  of  Persons 
in  the  Godhead,  the  New  Church  rejects  absolutely  and  with- 
out qualification.  But  the  Trinity  of  Love,  Wisdom,  and 
Power,  it  holds,  as  essential  truth.     It  sees  this  trinity  in  the 


424  OOD   USES  INSTRUMENTS. 

divine  life  in  man,  made  human  life  by  being  made  man's  own. 
It  sees  it  in  the  love,  which  is  the  origin  and  source  of  every 
act ;  in  the  thought  which  the  love  produces  and  by  means  of 
which  love  does  its  work ;  in  the  action  in  which  are  the 
love  and  the  thought  that  produce  it.  And  when  these  three 
elements  of  the  Divine  are  thought  of  severally,  Infinite  Love 
may  be  called  the  Father ;  Infinite  Wisdom  the  Son ;  and  in 
the  whole  action  and  operation  of  the  divine  power,  this 
church  recognizes  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  question  may  again  occur.  How  can  we  believe  that 
infinite  power  seeks  its  ends  by  circuitous  and  indirect  means  ? 
Is  it  not  implied  in  the  very  word  infinite,  that  divine 
power  might  accomplish  all  it  would  by  merely  willing  its 
existence  ?  And  if  the  whole  end  of  divine  providence  may 
be  summed  in  the  desire  to  make  men  good  that  they  may  be 
happy,  why  not  do  this  at  once,  for  all,  and  perfectly  ?  But 
these  questions  can  no  more  be  asked  as  to  this  scheme  —  if 
so  it  be  called  —  or  this  method  of  divine  operation,  than  to 
any  or  every  other  which  any  system  of  religious  truth,  or 
religious  falsehood,  has  ever  supposed.  Nor  can  it  be  necessary 
to  make  any  other  answer  to  an  honest  and  thoughtful 
mind,  than  that,  account  for  it  as  we  may  or  leave  it  unex- 
plained, all  the  kingdoms  of  created  existence  prove  absolutely, 
that  it  is  a  universal  law  of  divine  providence,  to  accomplish 
its  purposes  through  successive  and  gradually  advancing  steps, 
by  means  of  instruments  adjusted  to  various  ends,  and  by  a 
systematic  method.  To  doubt  this,  would  be  to  doubt  whether 
divine  providence  has  any  thing  to  do  with  animal  or  vegetable 
existences,  because  all  animals  and  vegetables  begin  with  or 
are  impregnated  by  certain  means  and  in  accordance  with 
certain  laws,  and  reach  their  maturity  through  growth  by 
means  of  appropriate  nutriment,  and  by  gradual  development, 
and  with  exposure  to  indefinitely  varied  hindrances  and 
obstructions. 


THE   UNIVERSE  BOUND   TOGETHER.  425 

Infinite  love,  and  wisdom  and  power!  Let  it  never  be 
forgotten,  first,  that  we  have  or  may  have  some  idea  of  the 
infinite.  This  idea  must  be  limited  and  conditioned,  imperfect 
and  utterly  inadequate.  This  is  made  necessary  by  the  fact 
that  we  are  not  infinite ;  that  we,  and  all  our  faculties  and 
qualities,  are  finited  and  conditioned.  But  we  have  an  equal 
right  to  believe  that  while  the  purposes  of  our  creation  require 
that  we  should  be  thus  finited,  they  do  not  require  and  they 
do  forbid  that  we  should  be  so  far  from  the  infinite,  or  finited 
in  such  way  and  measure,  as  to  be  wholly  unconscious  of  our 
relations  with  the  infinite.  And  if  we  are  to  have  any  con- 
sciousness of  these  relations  we  must  be  capable  of  some  idea 
of  the  infinite ;  and  this  idea  however  imperfect  and  inade- 
quate must  be  not  wholly  inaccurate,  must  be  at  least  the 
beginning  and  germ  of  ideas  of  the  infinite  which  will  have  in 
them  elements  of  genuine  truth ;  and  these  elements  must 
have  in  them  the  possibility  of  indefinite  development  and 
growth. 

Wliile  the  causes,  the  principles  and  the  methods  of  the 
divuie  action  are  as  a  whole  and  in  their  complex  utterly 
beyond  our  reach,  we  need  not  therefore  be  wholly  ignorant 
of  them.  For  example,  it  may  be  suggested  that  one  rational 
and  probable  cause  of  the  universal  law  —  that  the  divine  power 
acts  by  means  of  instruments  —  is  that  thereby  the  universal 
Father  gives  to  every  thing  He  creates  the  good  of  being  His 
instrument  of  use  to  every  thing  else ;  and  thus  He  binds 
His  universe  together  in  the  solidarity  of  mutual  use  and 
universal  good.  And  the  whole  system  of  being,  and  all  this 
active  good,  and  all  these  uses  converge  towards  the  one 
highest  possible  happiness  of  man,  ever  enduring  and  ever 
enlarging  in  heaven. 


426  CONCLUSION 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  science  and  philosophy  of  this  day  are  non-religious. 
Some  who  cultivate  them  have  no  religion,  and  a  few  avow 
this.  Others  have  much ;  they  are  careful  to  assert,  or  indi- 
cate, that  whatever  their  devotion  to  science,  they  have  also 
a  belief  in  religious  truth ;  they  declare,  as  they  find  oppor- 
tunity, that  the  world  is  the  work  of  an  eternal  creator,  and 
they  use  the  name  of  God  often  and  not  without  reverence. 
But  they  separate  their  science  and  philosophy  perfectly  from 
religion. 

An  impression  seems  to  prevail,  that  science  must  be  in- 
jurious to  religion.  However  certain  and  definite  may  be 
the  fundamental  principles  of  science,  it  must  continually 
suggest  questions  which  it  cannot  yet  answer,  for  it  is  only 
so  that  it  makes  progress ;  and  therefore  doubt  and  uncer- 
tainty appear  to  belong  necessarily  to  science,  and  will  attach 
themselves  to  religious  faith,  if  that  be  not  preserved  by 
separation  and  distance.  So  also  there  is  a  belief,  that  if 
science  be  not  protected  from  the  influence  of  religion,  it 
must  become  unreal,  enthusiastic  and  mystical.  These  im- 
pressions may  be  among  the  causes  of  that  which  can  scarcely 
be  doubted  as  a  fact.  It  is,  that  science  and  philosophy  on 
the  one  hand,  and  Faith,  or  religious  belief  on  the  other, 
are  now  not  only  disconnected,  but  severed,  as  if  by  an 
abyss. 

But  if  there  be  a  God ;  i/*  He  be  the  only  Creator,  and  the 


A  RELIOIOUS  SCIENCE  POSSIBLE.  427 

cause  of  all  causation ;  if  we  and  all  that  we  are  and  have 
and  see,  or  ever  shall  be  or  ever  shall  see,  are  His  work,  and 
the  effect  of  His  causation  operating  by  the  laws  of  His 
order;  —  if  all  this  be  so,  it  cannot  be  unreasonable  to  say, 
that  any  investigation  into  the  nature,  origin  and  relations  of 
things  and  their  laws,  which  ignores  all  this,  must  be  im- 
portantly defective.  And  if  it  not  only  ignores  all  this,  but 
excludes  it ;  and  if  this  exclusion  of  all  religion  from  science 
has  become  a  very  positive  and  constant  element  in  all  science, 
then,  we  may,  not  unreasonably,  say,  first,  —  that  there  is 
nothing  in  science  which  teaches  or  tends  to  teach  religion ; 
or,  in  other  words,  there  is  nothing  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
works  of  God  as  that  knowledge  is  now  cultivated,  which 
teaches  or  tends  to  give  any  knowledge  of  God  or  of  His 
relation  to  His  works. 

And,  secondly,  that  if  this  knowledge  thus  excludes  all 
religious  knowledge,  it  cannot  but  be  hostile  to  religion,  in- 
directly if  not  directly,  and  all  progress  in  it  and  all  cultiva- 
tion of  it  of  the  kind  now  prevailing,  must  bear  the  thoughts 
and  belief  of  men  away  from  religious  belief. 

And,  thirdly,  if  a  belief  in  God  and  in  His  constant  presence 
and  operation  be  a  good  thing  for  man,  we  might  well  expect 
that  a  new  discovery  of  religious  truth,  or  of  a  religion  and  a 
science  which  were  not  thus  severed  and  opposed,  might  come 
from  Grod. 

And,  lastly,  if  this  did  come,  it  must  come  by  other  means 
than  any  which  a  non-religious  science  could  offer,  or  use,  or 
accept,  or  recognize ;  and  therefore  any  exposition  of  this 
science  or  philosophy,  so  far  as  it  is  true,  must,  in  that  degree, 
be  unfitted  for  acceptance  by  those  minds  which  are  influenced 
by  the  prevailing  philosophy  and  science,  so  far  as  these  are 
non-religious. 

Science,  philosophy  and  religion  are  distinct  things,  and 
should,  in  some  sense,  and  for  some  purposes,  be  kept  distinct 
in  our  minds.     Between  science  in  general,  and  philosophy  in 


428         THE  FINAL  FUNCTION  OF  SCIENCE. 

general,  the  difference  is  easily  seen ;  but  let  them  be  wholly 
disconnected,  and  both  are  ruined.  Whatever  may  be  the 
extent  or  the  accuracy  of  science  in  reference  to  especial 
facts,  if  it  stand  alone  it  has  no  other  use  than  to  fill  the 
memory.  As  soon  as  the  scientist  begins  to  classify  and 
co-ordinate  his  facts,  to  systematize  his  knowledge,  to  deduce 
or  apply  a  theory,  to  discover  rules  and  laws,  he  enters  upon 
the  domain  of  philosophy.  Then,  if  his  theory  be  sound,  it 
will  not  only  explain,  connect  and  reconcile  the  facts  he  knows, 
and  make  them  illustrate  each  other,  but  it  will  be  a  most 
potent  instrument  for  extending  his  science  by  the  discovery 
of  new  facts.  And  we  may  call  this  instrument  a  scientific 
philosophy,  or  a  philosophical  science  as  we  prefer. 

Very  similar  things  may  be  said  of  the  relation  of  religion 
to  both  philosophy  and  science.  If  religion  be  any  thing, 
the  facts  upon  which  it  rests  must  be  the  central  facts  of  all 
creation,  causation  and  existence.  They  must  be  the  facts 
which  science  and  philosophy  cannot  ignore,  and  still  less 
deny,  without  destroying  the  only  sure  foundation  of  all 
science  and  all  philosophy.  If  religion  have  any  truth,  then 
this  truth  must  have  an  important  relation  to  all  truth.  If 
religion  be  true,  then  whatever  disregards  it,  and  whatever 
denies  it,  must  disregard  and  deny  a  part  of  the  Truth ;  and 
this  part  must  be  that  which  is  the  centre  of  all.  It  must,  if 
religion  be  any  thing,  be  that  part,  which  should  give  system, 
order,  completeness  and  certainty  to  the  whole  ;  not  at  once, 
and  at  every  step,  but  in  its  tendency  and  whole  effect. 

K  religion  be  any  thing,  it  must  be  the  most  important  and 
Jinal  function  of  science  and  philosophy,  to  illustrate,  devel- 
op, and  confirm  religious  truth ;  and  science  and  philosophy 
which  renounce  this  function  must  be  lame  and  imperfect. 
And  if  they  oppose  religious  truth,  they  must  be  false,  and 
incapable  of  recognizing  the  truth. 

If  religion  be  more  than  an  illusion,  —  in  other  words,  if 
there  be  a  God,  —  there  must  be  a  science  of  religion.    This 


CAUSATION.  429 

science  may  be,  and  indeed  must  be,  distinct  from  all  other 
sciences ;  but  not  disconnected,  and  still  less  antagonistic. 
All  science  and  all  philosophy,  must  render  their  tributes  to 
religion,  and  religious  science  be  able  to  receive  their  tributes. 
This  is  meant  in  the  Apocalypse  where  it  is  said  of  the  city 
of  God,  the  New  Jerusalem,  that  "the  kings  of  the  earth 
shall  bring  their  glory  unto  it ; "  for  the  city  of  God  as  a  city 
of  the  human  mind  is  a  systematic  and  acknowledged  doc- 
trine, to  which  all  the  dominant  truths  in  the  mind  bring 
their  glory,  —  to  confirm,  to  illustrate  and  to  honor  it. 

If  there  be  a  God,  He  must  be  the  primal  and  central 
Cause  ;  that  is,  the  cause  of  all  Causation  ;  and  as  all  science, 
or  all  sciences,  are  founded  upon  an  investigation  of  facts  and 
the  causes  of  facts  and  the  relation  of  these  causes  to  their 
effects,  so  all  true  sciences,  more  or  less  directly,  and  more 
or  less  obviously,  must  lead  towards,  or  at  all  events,  turn 
towards,  the  First  Cause.  And  if  they  lead  or  turn  away 
from  this,  they  must,  just  so  far,  lead  or  turn  towards  false- 
hood. It  should  however,  be  the  especial  function  of  the 
science  of  religion  to  follow  this  investigation  of  causes  up 
towards  the  beginning  of  causation,  towards  Him  to  whom 
we  give  the  name  of  God. 

But  how  can  we,  limited  and  cumbered  as  we  are,  under- 
stand any  thing  concerning  God?  One  answer  is,  that  in 
calling  Him  the  First  Cause,  we  have  at  least  the  means  of 
learning  so  much  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  essential  and 
necessary  relation  of  cause  to  effect. 

The  theory  of  causation  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  topics 
which  have  come  under  human  consideration.  Writers  of 
unquestionable  eminence  and  power  have  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion, that  we  know  and  can  know  nothing  whatever  of  causa- 
tion, but  the  immediate  sequence  in  time  of  one  thing  after  a 
certain  other  thing;  and  when  we  see  this  sequence  occur 
constantly,  we  call  the  first  term,  a  cause,  and  the  second  term, 
its  effect.     Touch  a  burning  coal,  and  pain  follows,  and  soon 


430  OOD   THE  FIRST  CAUSE. 

a  rapid  destruction  of  the  skin  and  flesh.  We  say  the  coal 
causes  this  pain,  and  this  destruction ;  and  we  say  so  only 
because  we  have  witnessed  or  heard  of  this  sequence  so  often, 
that  we  think  of  it  as  constant  and  inevitable.  Then,  if  we 
reason  about  it,  we  say  we  mean  no  more  than  this  when  we 
use  the  word  cause.  This  is  not  quite  true.  It  may  be  true, 
that  we  know  no  more  than  this ;  but  it  is  not  true  that  we 
mean  no  more  than  this. 

For  the  idea  of  cause  is  inherent  in  the  human  mind,  how- 
ever it  came  there.  It  does  not  grow  out  of  any  observed 
sequences  of  facts ;  but  it  voluntarily  attaches  itself  to  those 
sequences.  It  is  so  ready,  so  eager  to  do  this  ;  and  the  desire 
to  apply  this  idea  and  for  that  purpose  to  recognize  the 
relation  of  cause  and  effect,  is  so  natural  to  the  human  mind 
and  so  active,  that  we  may  make,  and  are  constantly  making, 
great  mistakes  in  the  application  of  this  idea.  It  is  not  how- 
ever a  mistake  to  have,  or  to  use,  this  idea.  It  belongs  to 
the  very  constitution  of  the  human  mind.  "We  cannot  get  rid 
of  it  if  we  would ;  and  we  should  harm  ourselves  if  we 
could ;  we  should  deprive  ourselves  of  a  powerful  instrument, 
and  a  most  important  means  of  acquirmg  knowledge.  But 
this  instrument  will  be  efficacious  and  useful  in  the  degree  in 
which  we  rightly  apprehend  what  cause,  or  causation,  is. 

They  who  accept  the  philosophy  of  Swedenborg  believe 
that  he  teaches  much  that  may  be  very  useful  on  this  subject ; 
so  much,  that  it  would  be  impossible  here  even  to  hint  at  the 
whole  of  it.  There  are,  however,  some  pxnnciples  which 
seem  to  underlie  the  whole,  and  may  be  stated. 

One  of  these  is,  that  God  is  not  only  the  First  Cause,  but, 
strictly  and  accurately  speaking,  the  only  cause  ;  because  all 
other  things  which  act  as  causes  are  only  the  media  or  instru- 
ments through  which  his  causative,  or  producing  or  controlling 
force,  acts.  They  may  be  called  causes,  but  only  because  He, 
first,  causes  them,  and  then  through  them  continues  his  work 
of  causation,  and  so  makes  them  to  be  causes. 


ALL   CAUSE  IN  ITS  EFFECT.  431 

Thus,  in  general,  the  spiritual  world  is,  in  relation  to  this 
world,  a  world  of  causes ;  and  this  world  is,  in  relation  to 
that  world,  only  a  world  of  effects. 

But  Grod,  as  Cause,  reaches  the  spiritual  world  through 
media  extending  from  Him  in  series,  or  degrees,  in  number 
numberless,  and  always  as  they  rise  above  the  spiritual  world, 
more  and  more  inapprehensible  by  human  thought. 

All  of  these  media  were  caused  or  created  by  Him,  from 
Himself,  first,  to  be,  themselves,  and  then  to  become  the 
instruments  by  which  his  causative  or  creative  power  may  go 
yet  farther  and  lower  and  create,  or  cause  to  be,  other  and 
lower  things. 

Another  thing  which  Swedenborg  teaches  on  the  subject 
of  causation,  or  the  relation  of  cause  to  effect,  is  this.  Every 
cause  is  in  some  way  in  its  effect ;  no  cause  can  create  out  of 
nothing ;  no  thing  or  being  can  communicate  what  it  does  not 
possess.  This  principle  is  by  no  means  a  new  one.  It  was 
recognized  as  a  fundamental  and  necessary  truth  long  before  it 
was  expressed  by  the  formula,  "  Ex  nihilo  nihil  fit ;  "  "  From 
nothing  nothing  is  made."  But  this  truth,  however  long  or 
well  known,  and  however  certain  it  might  seem,  opposes  per- 
fectly the  common  idea  of  God  and  the  divine  power  and  act 
of  creation.  That  idea  is,  that  God  speaks  or  wills  a  thing 
into  being,  —  into  being  from  nothing  and  where  nothing  was. 
Thus,  the  text,  "  Be  light,  and  light  was,"  has  been  dwelt 
upon  in  all  ages  as  a  sublime  expression  of  the  divine  power 
creating  out  of  nothingness  by  the  mere  force  and  act  of 
willing.  But  the  philosophy  of  Swedenborg  would  under- 
stand this  text  as  meaning,  "  Let  there  come  forth  from  God 
that  which  shall  be  Light;  and  it  came  forth  and  Light 
was." 

Another  truth  taught  by  Swedenborg  is  also  ancient,  but 
heretofore  not  very  clearly  seen  or  stated,  nor  made  much  use 
of;  although  it  is,  in  some  degree,  an  inference  from  the  prin- 
ciple last  stated.    It  is  this.    The  effect  not  only  indicates,  but 


432  TWO   WAYS   OF  DIVINE   CAUSATION. 

clothes,  responds  to,  and  represents  the  cause.  Let  us  remem- 
ber that  all  power,  or  energy,  or  force  proceeds  from  its 
primal  and  central  cause,  and  we  may  divide  its  methods  of 
operation  into  two  classes.  By  one,  it  operates  from  and 
through  a  higher  plane  of  being,  and  creates  a  lower  plane  or 
degree  of  being.  By  the  other,  it  operates  among  things  on 
the  same  plane  or  degree  of  being.  It  may  be  an  intelligible 
form  of  expressing  these  two  ways  of  the  divine  operation,  to 
say  that  in  one  way  it  operates  from  within,  without ;  or  from 
above,  down ;  or  through  degrees  of  elevation  or  height. 
And  in  the  other  way  it  operates  on  the  same  plane  through 
degrees  of  extent  or  width.  And  in  both  cases  we  may  call 
the  instruments  through  which  this  primal  force  acts  secondary 
causes. 

Thus,  for  the  first  mode  of  action,  we  may  take  the  crea- 
tion of  this  lower  or  material  universe,  from,  through  and  by 
the  spiritual  universe.  And  we  may  either  consider  this  as  a 
whole,  and  then  we  say  the  whole  material  universe  clothes 
a  universe  of  spiritual  causes,  and  corresponds  to  it  and 
represents  it ;  or  we  may  apply  the  same  to  individual  things, 
and  consider  only  them,  or  only  one  thing,  as  an  animal, 
a  tree,  a  stone.  For  this  truth  is  a  truth  as  to  the  whole 
of  these  two  worlds  or  modes  of  being,  because  it  is  true  of 
every  part. 

But  when  we  think  of  this  primal  force  acting  among 
things  of  the  same  plane,  it  is  not  quite  the  same.  Ilere, 
force  (becoming  forces  by  flowing  into  and  through  indi- 
vidual things)  either  only  imparts  or  propagates  itself,  —  as 
when  a  stone  thrown  against  another  loses  some  of  its 
motion,  and  gives  what  it  loses  to  that  which  it  strikes,  —  or 
else  is  converted  into  some  other  form  of  force,  as  when 
motion,  interrupted  by  the  roughnesses  that  cause  friction, 
or  the  obstacles  that  arrest  the  motion,  is  converted  into 
heat. 

Let  me  refer  again  to  one  of  the  latest  discoveries  of 


DIVINE  FORCE,  ALL  FORCE.  433 

science,  which  is  called  the  "  conservation  of  forces,"  or  some- 
times "  the  correlation  of  forces,"  or  sometimes  "  the  identity 
of  force."  It  has  been  found  that  motion,  when  arrested, 
becomes  or  produces  heat ;  and  heat,  which,  as  has  always  been 
known,  produces  motion,  is  now  known  to  become  motion, 
and  heat  and  motion  are  thus  convertible  into  each  other  in 
exact  and  measurable  proportions  or  ratios.  So  it  is  found 
that  motion,  heat,  light,  electrical  and  magnetic  force,  and 
actinic  force,  or,  in  other  words,  all  known  forces,  are  con- 
vertible into  each  other,  or  produce  each  other. 

This,  as  has  been  said,  is  regarded  as  a  recent  discovery, 
nor  is  it  now  thoroughly  investigated  or  well  understood. 
Very  much  of  what  is  now  known  on  this  subject,  and  truths 
and  principles  which  underlie  the  whole,  might  have  been 
learned  from  Swedenborg's  philosophy  more  than  a  century 
ago.  For  from  this  it  might  have  been  learned,  that  Grod 
creates,  animates,  fills,  sustains  and  controls  the  universe,  by 
means  of  instruments  emanating  from  Himself  in  series,  or 
in  degrees,  one  more  internal  within  another  more  external, 
and  that  these  instruments  are  as  spheres  or  atmospheres 
about  the  Divine,  the  higher  and  inner  perfectly  inaccessible 
to  sense  or  defining  thought,  the  outer  more  and  more  gross 
until  they  reach  our  senses.  And  Force,  His  own  divine 
Force,  or  Life,  or  Energy,  working  by  means  of  modifications 
of  these  atmospheres,  by  these  modifications  becomes  all 
forces  and  all  activities.  I  use  the  word  "modifications,"  be- 
cause it  better  translates  Swedenborg's  word;  but  modern 
science  uses,  in  respect  to  the  modifications  of  the  air  and  the 
ethers  by  which  sound  and  heat  and  light  are  produced,  the 
words  "  undulations  "  or  "  oscillations ; "  confessing,  however, 
that  neither  phrase  is  precisely  correct. 

We  have  in  this  recent  admission  of  a  great  truth  an 
entrance  by  science  upon  a  path  which,  it  may  be  hoped,  will 
lead  it  upwards  to  the  recognition  of  the  primal  source  of  all 

28 


434  FORM  AND  LAW. 

Force,  the  divine  energy,  always  Itself  wherever  and  however 
modified  or  manifested. 

One  great  principle  involved  in  all  this  is  also  not  abso- 
lutely new,  being,  indeed,  old  enough  to  be  forgotten ;  but  we 
must  look  for  its  recent  demonstration  and  development  to 
Swedenborg.  "  The  Divine  is  the  same  in  all  things,  whether 
great  or  small,  living  or  dead." 

Force,  or  Energy,  or  Life,  for  we  may  call  it  either,  and 
do  call  it  by  one  or  another  of  these  names  in  one  or  another 
of  its  manifestations,  is  always  One,  always  Itself,  always 
what  it  was  in  itself  and  in  its  origin ;  and  is  determined  as  to 
its  manifestation,  its  operation,  and  its  aspect,  hy  the  Form 
of  that  into  which  it  jiows  and  by  which  it  acts.  Here  we 
must  be  careful  to  discard  the  common  notion  that  Form  is 
the  same  thing  with  Shape.  For  shape  is  but  the  outside 
appearance  of  some  things.  All  things  do  not  have  shape ; 
but  all  things  have  Form,  for  all  things  have  an  inmost  and 
essential  constitution  or  manner  of  being,  which  causes  and 
determines  them  to  be  what  they  are ;  and  this  is  tlieir 
Form.* 

All  things  which  exist  are  but  forms  or  vessels  receptive 
of  influent  life  or  being ;  and  without  this  creative  and  sus- 
taining influent  life,  they  would  not  be.  But  this  influent 
life  is  always  effluent  life  also,  because  all  things  are  created 
each  for  its  own  use  in  the  universe,  and  each  performs  its 
use,  because  the  influent  life,  modified  by  the  recipient  form, 
becomes  effluent  and  performs  that  use. 

*  Bacon  uses  the  words  form  (forma)  and  law  (lex)  as  synonymous  and 
interchangeable  in  some  connections.  Thus,  in  his  seventeenth  aphorism  he 
says,  "  Eadem  res  est  forma  calidi  vel  forma  luminis,  et  lex  calidi  aut  lex 
luminis."  1  cannot  understand  the  use  which  Bacon  makes  of  the  word 
form,  otherwise  than  as  meaning  by  it,  that  in  any  thing  which  makes  it  to 
be  what  it  is,  and  determines  all  its  functions  and  activities,  and  the  whole  of 
its  "quale,"  —  a  word  wliich  our  English  word  "quality"  represents  im- 
perfectly. In  this  sense  every  entitj'  must  have  a  form,  and  that  which  is 
the  form  of  any  entity  is  its  lauv 


DIVINE  PARENTAL  LOVE.  435 

Life  is  One,  determined  with  infinite  variety  into  all  the 
forces,  activities  and  effects  in  the  universe  by  the  inmost 
form  of  that  into  which  it  is  influent,  and  from  which  it  is 
effluent.  This  is  an  absolutely  universal  law,  and  the  law  of 
their  existence  for  all  things  material,  moral,  intellectual,  or 
spiritual. 

Everywhere  and  in  every  thing  in  the  universe  which 
God  creates  and  fills,  we  might  find  instances  and  illustra- 
tions of  this  law.  One  or  two  must  now  suffice.  One  shall 
be  found  in  the  parental  love  of  God ;  for  He  is  an  Infinite 
consisting  of  distinct  infinites  co-existing  in  Unity,  and  it 
is  the  parental  love  in  Him,  which  causes  Him  to  be  Our 
Father ;  to  produce  or  create  us,  and  to  love  us. 

This  parental  love  is  in  Him,  establishing  between  himself 
and  his  creation,  and  all  things  of  it,  the  relation  of  a  Father 
to  his  children,  but  with  a  warmth  and  tenderness  and  wis- 
dom of  parental  love  infinitely  beyond  our  capacity  of  com- 
prehension. But  it  also  flows  from  Him  into  His  creation 
and  all  things  of  it,  and  is  in  every  thing  determined  in  its 
method  of  action,  by  the  form  of  that  thing.  The  same 
parental  love  which  in  Him  causes  Him  to  create  and  to 
love,  flows  from  Him  into  the  organic  subjects  of  creation, 
and  becomes  in  each  of  them  the  instrument  of  the  Divine 
love  in  the  work  of  creation  and  preservation. 

A  tree  protects  the  infant  buds  to  be  born  another  year, 
with  the  wonderfully  adapted  covering  of  leaves  folded 
together,  those  in  the  centre  of  the  thinnest  and  softest  tis- 
sue, then  growing  thicker  and  stronger,  all  in  wrapping  the 
central  germ  with  a  skill  and  accuracy  human  art  could  not 
imitate,  and  the  whole  enclosed  in  thick,  leathery  leaves, 
which  are  again  varnished  over  with  a  lacker  impenetrable 
to  storm  and  winter,  but  yet  so  soft  that  the  gentle  breath  of 
spring  dissolves  it,  and  as  it  opens  the  enclosing  leaves  unfold, 
and  the  germ  comes  out,  to  grow,  and  flower,  and  end  with 
being  the  fruit,  —  the  ripened  child  of  the  tree.     What  has 


436  LOVE   OF  TEE  BEAUTIFUL. 

worked  this  constant  miracle?  The  paternal  love  of  God, 
entering  into  the  tree,  first  forming  it  into  adaptation  to  this 
end,  and  then  through  this  form  working  out  this  end. 

If  we  rise  from  the  vegetable  world  to  the  animal,  every- 
where we  find  this  parental  love  operating  with  boundless 
variety,  from  the  animal  most  resembling  man,  to  the  insect 
which  never  knew  its  parent  and  prepares  with  exact  sagacity 
a  home  for  the  children  it  can  never  know,  on  precisely  that 
tree  and  no  other,  whose  leaves  will  afford  its  children  nour- 
ishment. And  whether  it  be  in  the  tigress,  the  sheep,  the  bird, 
or  the  insect,  it  is  the  divine  parental  love,  determined  by  the 
form  of  that  very  animal,  to  do  the  very  work  best  adapted  to 
the  preservation  of  the  young  of  that  animal,  and  so  to  the 
propagation  and  continuance  of  the  race. 

And  if  again  we  rise  to  man,  we  find  now,  conscious,  ra- 
tional paternal  love,  made  so  by  the  human  form,  which  that 
love  had  so  made  that  it  might  be  capable  of  receiving  and 
manifesting  —  and  living  out  —  this  conscious  rational  love. 
And  so  the  mother  imitates  the  tree  and  wraps  her  babe  in 
coverings  that  will  keep  out  storm  and  winter ;  and  father 
and  mother  continue  through  life,  to  exhibit  towards  their 
child,  a  faint,  feeble,  and  most  imperfect  image  of  the  infinite 
paternal  love  of  God. 

Perhaps  another  illustration  may  be  given.  Among  the 
enjoyments  of  human  beings  is  the  sense  and  enjoyment  of 
the  beautiful.  It  is  as  yet  but  partially  and  poorly  developed 
among  men.  But  the  whole  earth  overflows  with  beauty. 
It  must  be  true,  that  myriads  of  spots  which  no  human  foot 
has  trodden,  are  full  of  the  beauty  of  landscape,  of  tree  and 
flower,  of  lovely  or  splendid  animal  forms  and  color.  Suc- 
cessive waves  of  this  exuberant  beauty  have  flowed  over  these 
unknown  places  in  long  succession  for  countless  generations 
of  vegetable  and  animal  life.  Why  this  creation  of  unseen 
beauty  doomed  to  be  unseen  ?  Why  this  waste  of  that  most 
precious  thing,  the  beautiful?     Why,  —  unless  because  the 


FREEDOM  AND  DUTY.  437 

possession  of  this  capacity  of  enjoyment  in  men,  proves  that 
it  must  exist  in  God ;  and  therefore  permits  us  to  believe  that 
His  eye  sees  it  all,  and  finds  in  it  food  for  one  portion  of  His 
infinite  happiness. 

And  so  we  might  go  on ;  but  we  could  only  end  with  say- 
ing, that  all  there  is  of  will  or  affection  in  man  is  of  the  Divine 
Love  which  enters  into  man ;  and  all  there  is  of  thought, 
understanding  or  reason  in  man,  is  of  the  Divine  Wisdom 
which  enters  into  man. 

It  is  this  Divine  Love  which  becomes  in  man,  self-love. 
And  this  is  sinful  so  far  as  it  turns  away  from  the  love  of 
God  and  the  love  of  the  neighbor,  but  right  and  wise  and 
good,  when  in  freedom  and  by  choice  it  is  subordinated  to  the 
love  of  God  and  of  the  neighbor,  and  the  care  for  self  has 
for  its  end  the  better  performance  of  use  to  the  neighbor  and 
the  exercise  and  increase  of  the  love  to  God.  From  this 
condition  of  the  will  and  understanding  there  comes  hajipi- 
ness,  genuine  and  permanent  happiness ;  the  divine  happiness 
itself  in  the  measure  in  which  men  can  receive  it.  And  this 
condition  of  the  will  and  understanding  is  possible,  because 
the  whole  endeavor  of  infinite  love,  guided  by  infinite  wis- 
dom, and  having  the  strength  of  infinite  power,  has  for  its 
constant  end,  the  making  of  this  condition  possible  for  all, 
and  actual  for  all  who  are  or  can  be  made  willing,  in  freedom 
and  in  sincerity,  to  desire  that  it  should  become  actual. 

HUMAN   FREEDOM   AND    HUMAN    DUTY. 

Not  a  word  have  I  written  to  any  good  purpose,  unless  it 
has  helped  to  make  it  clearer  and  more  certain,  that  the  end 
and  the  work  of  human  life  are,  that  the  man,  from  being 
merely  natural,  may  become  spiritual ;  may  become  regener- 
ate ;  may  be  born  again.  This  is  the  end  and  the  work  of 
human  life  ;  the  only  end ;  the  only  good  work ;  and  except- 
ing so  far  as  this  end  is  reached  and  this  work  performed, 
life  is  no  other  thing  than  a  Failure. 


438  PBOGRESS  IN  GOODNESS. 

For  a  condensed  statement  of  the  difference  between  what 
is  natural  and  what  is  spiritual,  we  may  say,  that  the  natural 
man  has  only  the  thoughts,  affections,  beliefs,  desires,  motives 
and  interests  which  belong  to  this  world ;  and  that  he  culti- 
vates only  the  faculties  which  he  can  use  in  acquiring  a 
knowledge  of  the  things  —  creatures,  facts,  or  phenomena  — 
of  this  world,  and  in  understanding  their  relations  and  laws, 
and  in  making  such  use  of  them  as  he  desires  to  make.  A 
regenerate  or  spiritual  man  is  one  whose  thoughts,  affections, 
desires,  beliefs,  motives  and  interests,  have,  in  a  greater  or 
less  degree,  gone  up  from  this  world  to  a  higher ;  or  rather, 
still  rest  on  this  world,  but  regard  it  as  an  introduction  to  and 
a  preparation  for  a  higher.  The  faculties  and  the  inclinations 
which  he  most  values  and  most  cultivates  are  higher  than 
the  natural ;  higher  than  those  which  belong  exclusively 
to  the  world  and  the  body  which  are  his  by  birth ;  higher 
than  the  natural  and  therefore  they  are  supernatural. 

They  who  pursue  employments  and  cultivate  sciences,  arts, 
and  knowledges  of  all  kinds,  but  with  no  reference  to  spiritual 
things,  are  natural  men.  They  who  have  no  interest  but  in 
spiritual  things  with  no  reference  to  natural  things,  are  indeed 
spiritual  men,  but  their  spirituality  is  imperfect  and  unsafe, 
and  easily  runs  into  enthusiasm  and  fantasy.  For  spirituals 
are  the  souls  of  naturals,  and  the  soul  needs  a  body  for  the 
fulness  of  its  own  life  and  for  its  instrument.  They  who  en- 
gage in  and  cultivate  all  natural  things,  but  always  with  rec- 
ognition of  the  spiritual  relations  which  give  them  vitality 
and  value  and  make  them  the  means  of  eternal  progress,  they 
are  truly  spiritual  men. 

In  the  degree  in  which  we  comprehend  this  distinction,  we 
may  see,  that  while  the  possible  progress  of  the  natural  man 
in  goodness  and  intelligence  may  seem  to  be  great,  —  may 
seem  so  to  himself  and  to  others,  —  it  must  be  bounded  by 
narrow  limits  in  comparison  with  the  possible  progress  in 
goodness  and  in  wisdom  of  the  spiritual  or  regenerate  man. 


GEOLOGY.  439 

The  one  is  measured  by  this  earth ;  the  other  by  the  infinitude 
of  heaven ;  the  one  is  to  the  other  as  time  is  to  eternity,  or 
as  nothing  is  to  every  thing.  We  can  in  fact  put  no  measure, 
no  limit,  to  the  possible  progress  of  the  regenerate  man,  — 
of  the  angel.  And  that  angel  who  has  ascended  highest,  sees 
from  his  elevation  a  yet  more  boundless  progress  in  the  in- 
finite above  him.  He  can  never  reach  Him  who  is  Infinite 
in  Himself;  but  he  may  for  ever  approach  Him  ;  and  our 
utmost  faculties  alike  of  reason  and  of  imagination  are  lost 
in  the  effort  to  measure  this  approach. 

If  we  are  able  to  form  any  comprehension,  however  inade- 
quate, of  this  indefinite  possibility  of  progress  and  improve- 
ment, we  may  find  in  it  a  solution  of  a  problem  presented  by 
Geology  and  the  history  of  life  upon  this  earth. 

If  my  readers  remember  that  I  regard  the  external  uni- 
verse, in  the  whole,  and  in  all  its  substances,  forces,  laws  and 
history,  as  an  expression  and  a  mirror  of  the  internal,  they 
may  not  be  surprised  at  the  suggestion  that  even  Geology  — 
the  science  of  the  rocks  —  may  have  instruction  for  us  bear- 
ing upon  the  topics  above  considered.  This  science  is  the 
youngest  of  all.  Born  almost  within  the  memory  of  the 
living,  it  has  made  rapid  advances  and  reached  important  con- 
clusions, with  various  degrees  of  certainty.  Perhaps  its 
most  certain  —  possibly  its  only  certain  —  conclusions  are,  — 
that  the  earth  existed  countless  ages  ago ;  that  in  its  begin- 
ning it  was  without  life ;  that  in  ages  unimaginably  distant, 
life  began  in  very  low  forms  ;  that  the  earth  became  gradually 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  higher  animals  and  higher  animals 
came.  In  ensuing  ages  other  and  yet  other  animals,  always 
advancing  on  the  whole,  in  the  kind  and  degree  of  life,  suc- 
cessively appeared ;  the  great  classes  of  animals  coming  each 
in  the  geological  age  suited  to  it  and  characterized  by  it. 
And,  finally,  in  the  latest  geological  age  (if  not  in  the  present 
then  in  that  next  before  the  present),  man  appeared. 

It  is  easy  to  draw  from  these  facts  the  conclusion,  that  the 


440  THE  LAW  OF  PROGRESS. 

successive  works  of  God  advance  in  excellence ;  and  it  is 
easy  to  believe  that  this  is  a  law  of  the  divine  nature  and 
action  which  cannot  be  arrested. 

This  view  has  led  eminent  writers,  —  especially  that  great 
and  good  man,  Hugh  Miller,  —  to  suggest  that  man,  in  his 
turn,  may  disappear ;  and  that  he  may  be  replaced  by  some 
new  creature,  which  in  excellence  and  beauty  of  form,  in 
faculty  of  every  kind  and  all  capacity  of  action  and  enjc-y- 
ment,  will  be  as  much  beyond  men,  as  man  is  beyond  the 
animals  which  he  has  succeeded. 

This  view  has  in  it,  I  suppose,  something  of  error  and 
something  of  truth. 

That  man  is  to  disappear  and  be  replaced  by  a  new  and 
higher  animal  I  do  not  believe.  There  is  much  which  justi- 
fies the  theory  that  man  is  the  type  towards  which  the  pro- 
gressive steps  of  creation  have  always  tended ;  that  all  animal 
life  refers  in  its  configuration  and  functions  to  him,  every 
animal  standing  in  its  own  definite  relation  to  him ;  and  that 
the  human  animal  is,  merely  as  animal,  not  only  higher  than 
any  which  came  before,  but  the  consummation  and  completion 
of  them  all.  They  who  believe  the  Bible  must  attach  some 
force  to  the  declaration  that  man  is  made  in  the  image  and 
likeness  of  God ;  and  these  words  would  seem  to  be  capable 
of  no  meaning  reconcilable  with  the  belief  that  there  could 
be  a  more  perfect  form.  And  the  whole  system  of  doctrine 
of  the  New  Church  in  its  bearing  upon  the  nature  of  man 
and  his  relation  to  God,  and  upon  the  human  form  as  derived 
from  the  Divine,  and  as  the  expression  and  standard  of 
orderly  consociation,  makes  the  idea  of  his  giving  way  to 
a  better  kind  of  being,  in  this  sense,  impossible. 

So  much  as  this  in  the  views  above  spoken  of,  I  suppose  to 
be  wrong.  But  I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  of  the  truth, 
the  law,  of  constant  and  unending  progress  in  the  works  and 
in  the  creatures  of  God  ;  no  doubt  whatever,  that  a  new  man 
is  to  be  created ;  that  a  new  creature  is  to  exist  upon  the 


A   SPIRITUAL  AGE.  441 

earth ;  and  that  in  the  ages  to  come  there  will  be  while 
the  world  lasts,  an  ever-growing  improvement  in  the  beings 
created  by  Life  Itself,  to  receive  that  life  and  live  thereby. 

This  new  man  is  the  completed  spiritual  man ;  this  new 
creature  is  the  spiritual  man  born  of  the  natural  man.  In  all 
ages,  the  man  who  was  in  some  degree  spiritual  has  lived 
among  natural  men,  but  unknown  to  them ;  so  he  lives  now ; 
and  always  he  will  be  unknown  to  them,  because  a  man  who 
is  wholly  natural  can  have  no  comprehension  of  the  beliefs, 
the  affections,  the  hopes  and  the  interests,  which  the  man  has 
who  has  begun  to  be  spiritual,  and  is  a  spiritual  man  because 
he  has  them.  In  the  ascending  line  of  successive  races  of 
animals  through  an  immeasurable  past,  often  among  the  fossil 
witnesses  of  that  past,  individuals  are  found  among  races  from 
which  they  differ  by  a  difference  which  looks  to  a  future ;  a 
few  feeble  vertebrates  ^.re  seen  long  before  the  age  of  verte- 
brates ;  a  few  small  mammals  long  before  the  age  of  mam- 
mals. As  the  geological  ages  roll  on,  these  exceptions  be- 
come more  numerous  and  more  complete  until  they  become 
the  rule  and  not  the  exception,  and  by  their  number  and  their 
strength  characterize  their  age.  So,  a  future  lies  before  the 
hope  of  mankind,  —  a  distant  future,  —  in  which  natural  men 
will  cease  to  be  as  many  as  they  now  are,  and  spiritual  men 
will  be  more  in  number  and  higher  in  character  than  they 
have  ever  been,  and  the  age  will  be  a  spiritual  age. 

Infinite  love  could  not  be  satisfied  by  any  conceivable  or 
possible  progress  in  mere  externals,  in  form  or  shape,  or  in 
the  senses  or  physical  capacities  of  a  mortal  being.  Nor  in 
any  possible  improvement  of  the  intellect  or  the  affections  of 
an  immortal  being,  while  earthliness  in  the  mind  and  in  the 
heart  set  its  insuperable  limitation  to  all  progress,  and  made 
it  impossible  for  the  immortal  to  make  ready  for  immortality. 

What  then  remained  ?  To  provide  that  from  man  the  ani- 
mal, from  man  the  natural  being,  might  come  a  higher  man  j 
that  man  himself  might  rise  above  the  plane  of  animal  life, 


442  PBOGRESS  JiV  ANIMALS. 

of  merely  natural  human  life,  and  become  a  new  creature. 
By  this,  and  by  the  possibilities  open  to  the  spiritual  man, 
the  necessity  of  eternal  advancement  in  the  works  of  God  is 
perfectly  satisfied. 

The  gradual  ascent  of  the  animals  who  have  preceded 
man  upon  this  earth  may  be  considered  as,  in  part,  an  in- 
crease of  life,  and,  in  part,  as  an  advancement  and  elevation  in 
the  kind  of  life.  One  or  the  other  or  both  of  these  elements 
of  advancement  mark  the  progress  from  mollusks  to  fish,  to 
reptiles,  to  birds,  to  mammals,  to  men.  Both  are  present, 
and  in  a  far  higher  degree,  in  the  birth  of  the  spiritual  man 
from  the  natural  man.  An  indefinite  and  unlimited  gain  and 
increase  in  both  of  these  elements  (in  the  quantity  of  life  and 
in  the  kind  of  life)  will  be  seen,  for  the  first  time  in  the  whole 
■  series  of  created  things,  in  this  new  creature,  the  spiritual  man. 

To  him  is  given  all  of  the  divine  life  which  he  can  become 
willing  to  receive,  and  there  is  given  him  also  an  indefinite 
power  of  enlarging  his  own  willingness  and  capacity  of  re- 
ception ;  and  all  the  life  he  thus  receives  becomes  his  OAVN. 
To  him  is  given  not  only  the  highest  forms  and  modes  and 
measures  of  this  infinite  life  which  he  can  become  willing  to 
receive,  but  a  gift  as  much  greater  than  all  the  rest  as  eternity 
is  more  than  time  and  heaven  higher  than  earth,  the  gift  of 
doing  himself,  consciously  and  rejoicingly,  by  help  given  to 
him  to  be  his  own  that  he  may  thus  act,  all  that  will  open  in 
himself  a  larger  receptability  of  good ;  of  good  growing  for 
ever  in  measure,  and  for  ever  rising  in  kind. 

These  are  the  gifts  which  the  new  man,  this  new  creature, 
will  receive ;  and,  receiving,  will  make  use  of  as  his  own. 
And  what  will  they  make  him  ? 

I  suppose  it  would  be  impossible  for  us,  in  our  pres- 
ent condition,  to  form  an  adequate  conception  of  such  a 
creature  when  he  reaches  the  fulness  of  his  stature.  We  could 
much  more  easily  imagine  a  man,  —  or  an  animal  replacing 
man,  —  with  other  limbs,  swimming  like  the  fish  or  flying  like 


UTOPIAS.  443 

the  bird,  with  all  physical  powers  greater,  and  all  senses  more 
exquisite.  But  imagine  what  we  will  in  this  way,  the  new 
creature  of  this  sort  is  much  less  elevated  above  man  and 
much  less  distinguished  from  man  as  he  is,  than  the  spiritual 
man  when  fully  developed,  will  be  distinguished  from  the 
merely  natural  man. 

In  many  ages  thoughtful  men  who  have  felt  the  strange 
sad  contrast  between  man  as  he  is  and  man  as  he  might  be, 
have  imagined  and  portrayed  a  world  as  they  would  have  it. 
But  let  the  most  brilliant  and  fertile  imagination  construct 
such  a  world,  and  if  it  be  merely  natural,  composed  only  of 
natural  men  and  exhibiting  only  such  life  as  may  come  from 
merely  natural  beliefs  and  motives,  —  as  were  most  of  those 
Utopias,  —  what  must  it  ever  be  ? 

The  natural  man  must  always  find,  in  his  own  comfort  and 
enjoyment,  and  in  his  own  advantage,  his  primal  moving  im- 
pulse. He  may  be  beneficent,  and  this  in  any  degree,  if  in 
some  form  or  other  his  efforts  or  his  gifts  return  to  him  with 
usury,  —  with  food  for  his  pride,  solace  for  his  self-compla- 
cency, flattery  of  his  excellence  and  worth,  or  with  the  honor 
and  homage  of  men,  and  distinction,  authority  and  power,  or 
with  repayment  of  any  pleasure.  He  may  indulge  that 
natural  kindness,  or  that  impatience  at  the  sight  of  suffering, 
which  many  men  have.  He  may  disguise  his  selfishness 
when  he  knows  that  its  face  is  hideous ;  he  may  disguise  it 
even  from  himself  when  its  face  is  hideous  even  to  himself, 
and  that  it  may  be  disguised  from  himself  and  others,  he 
may  gild  it  with  refinement  and  elegance.  He  may  restrain 
his  lusts  when  he  knows,  and  as  long  as  he  remembers,  that 
restraint  pays  him  better  than  indulgence.  And  there  may 
be  a  general  and  a  careful  respect  for  the  order  of  society 
when  their  own  experience,  or  the  gathered  experience  of 
ages,  teach  men  that  every  man's  well-being  is  dependent  upon 
that  quiet  enjoyment  of  himself  and  of  his  own,  which  only 
Bocial  order  can  preserve.    But  is  not  this  all,  necessarily  all? 


444  NATURALISM. 

And  can  it  be  that  selfishness  and  grossness  and  lust  are  to 
be  effectually  and  always  suppressed  or  hidden  by  a  refined 
taste ;  always  to  be  restrained  by  bonds  so  weak  as  these  ? 
That  they  will  never  break  out  and  run  riot  if  all  that  holds 
them  is  the  voice  of  reason  speaking  coldly  to  fiery  passion, 
speaking  with  the  low  tones  of  warning  and  admonition  amid 
the  roar  and  storm  of  lust  and  sin  ?  Would  not  a  condition, 
resting  upon  no  other  foundations  than  these,  need,  even  more 
than  now,  its  police,  its  prisons,  and  its  scaffold  ? 

Naturalism,  at  its  very  best,  aims  and  can  aim  at  nothing 
more  than  to  give  to  selfishness  all  the  benefit  of  culture, 
refinement,  instruction  and  discipline,  —  and  all  for  the 
purpose  of  increasing  and  securing  its  gratification.  Hence 
at  every  step  of  the  progress  of  naturalism  towards  the  end 
it  seeks,  selfishness  becomes  stronger  and  more  clearly  de- 
fined and  more  distinctly  acknowledged  as  the  one  motive 
power  of  all  intelligent  human  action.  The  truth  that  is 
higher  than  naturalism,  and  which  naturalism,  which  never 
looks  up,  cannot  see,  declares  that  selfishness  is  the  source  of 
all  evil,  while  the  love  of  God  and  of  the  neighbor  are  the 
source  of  all  good  and  all  wisdom.  To  the  merely  natural 
man  such  a  principle  is  a  mere  inanity ;  he  cannot  but  scorn 
it ;  and,  therefore,  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  see  or  to  learn 
that  his  belief  that  naturalism  is  sufficient  for  the  best  happi- 
ness of  mankind  and  for  himself,  is  a  perfect  mistake. 
There  may  not  be  many  who  hold  this  belief  consciously  and 
systematically  ;  but  there  seem  to  be  multitudes,  —  far  more 
than  in  any  former  age,  —  who  hold  it  in  a  fragmentary  way, 
floating,  as  it  were,  among  their  thoughts.  They  have  no 
great  liking  or  leisure  for  such  topics  of  inquiry;  but  it 
may  be  all  the  belief  they  have,  and  may  close  their  minds 
against  the  entrance  of  all  spiritual  truth,  and  all  spiritual 
influence. 

Let  us  contrast  the  best  condition  which  the  merely  nat- 
ural man  can  even  think  of,  with  that  which  would  prevail 


MOTIVES  HIGHER   THAN  NATURAL.  445 

when  all  that  is  good  in  naturalism  is  filled  with  an  infinitely 
higher  good ;  when,  to  all  the  external  motives  of  expe- 
diency, are  added  the  higher  motives  which  belong  to  the 
spiritual  man.  Then  selfishness  will  not  be  disguised,  but 
suppressed ;  or  rather,  self-love  itself  will  be  made  a  means 
of  good,  because  the  spiritual  man  loves  his  regenerated  self- 
hood, and  rejoices  in  his  strength  and  in  his  deeds,  because 
they  are  useful  to  others ;  because  the  stronger  they  are  the 
more  they  make  him  to  be  and  the  more  they  prove  him  to 
be  an  instrument  of  God,  and  of  that  divine  life  which  he 
knows  that  his  own  life  is  in  its  origin.  Then  lust  and  sin 
are  rebuked  by  the  presence  in  his  thoughts  of  that  God 
whose  love  and  wisdom  have  forbidden  them  as  our  chief 
enemies.  Then  is  benevolence  made  active,  earnest,  universal 
and  wise,  by  the  constant  belief  that  it  is  in  this  that  earth 
acknowledges  the  influence  of  heaven,  and  that  by  this 
earth  may  be  builded  into  the  likeness  of  heaven.  And  if 
we  look  only  at  the  intellect,  what  must  that  gain  when,  in 
the  investigation  into  causes  and  the  laws  of  their  operation, 
—  which  constitutes  all  science,  —  God,  the  First  Cause,  and 
the  actuator  of  all  causes,  is  no  longer  omitted  and  ignored. 
And  when  the  human  mind  knows  that  it  is  permitted  to 
enter,  with  awe  and  yet  with  gladness,  upon  the  study  of 
Him  and  His  laws,  and  the  working  of  that  Life  which  is  the 
universal  life  of  all  that  lives.  Then,  too,  the  mind  will  not 
be  regarded  as  a  mere  incident  or  function  of  the  brain,  but 
as  a  faculty  of  the  soul,  which  is  itself  a  reality  of  spiritual 
substance,  preparing  by  all  increase  of  goodness  and  of  wis- 
dom, through  all  the  hours  of  time,  for  an  eternity  of  con- 
scious, personal  life. 

There  are  some  texts  of  Scripture  which  it  may  be 
well  to  consider  in  this  connection.  Take  this  for  an 
example,  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and 
with  all  thy  strength.  .  .  .  And  thou  shalt  love  thy  neigh- 


446  LOVE  TEE  LORD   THY  GOD. 

bor  as  thyself."  Can  it  be  supposed  that  He  who  gave 
these  two  laws  as  the  foundation  of  all  law,  and  to  whose 
wisdom  all  that  lies  in  coming  ages  was  present,  would  have 
so  spoken  were  it  not  possible  that  even  these  laws  might 
come  into  full  effect?  But  who  will  venture  to  imagine 
what  would  be  the  condition  of  mankind  when,  prevailingly 
amongst  men,  the  whole  force  of  the  will  and  the  whole 
light  of  the  intellect  were  fixed  and  concentrated  upon  love 
to  our  Father;  and  when  turning  from  our  Father  to  His 
children,  we  saw  in  aU  of  them  our  brethren,  and  our  love 
and  our  work  for  them  and  each  of  them  were  never  tainted 
with  any  preference  for  ourselves ;  and  an  emotion  which  led 
to  such  preference  would  be  felt  to  be  too  foolish,  too  wicked, 
and  too  painful  to  be  tolerated.  So  far  are  we  from  such  a 
condition  that  the  attempt  to  conceive  of  it  wearies  the  mind 
as  with  a  painful  effort.  And  yet  we  may  carry  this  imagin- 
ation so  far  as  to  see  that  if  it  could  be  realized  among 
men,  not  only  would  the  kingdom  of  God  reign  on  earth,  but 
men  would  have,  in  their  degree  and  each  one  in  his  own, 
the  very  happiness  of  God. 

Where,  then,  would  be  war  and  conflict?  Where  crime 
and  punishment ;  where  coercion  and  restraint  ?  Where 
want,  when  every  man  was  cared  for  by  all  men,  and 
the  productiveness  of  the  soil,  the  enlargement  of  knowl- 
edge and  its  application  to  all  useful  or  beautiful  art,  were 
continually  urged  on  through  the  ages,  by  motives  more  pow- 
erful than  those  which  now  prompt  every  man  to  labor  for 
himself  with  a  devoted  industry  so  wonderfully  guided  by 
Providence,  that,  on  the  whole,  the  selfishness  of  man  is 
compelled  to  do,  in  a  partial  and  imperfect  way,  the  work  of 
benevolence. 

It  might  even  be  asked.  Where  then  would  be  sickness  ? 
Let  generations  enough  pass  along  to  eradicate  the  seeds  of 
disease  now  inherited  by  all,  and  let  men  aim  habitually  at 
the  extirpation  of  the  causes  of  disease  whether  moral  or 


THE  NATURAL  AND    THE    SPIRITUAL.        447 

physical,  at  the  entire  removal,  both  in  himself  and  for  all 
the  rest,  of  all  the  habits  and  indulgences  which  generate 
disease,  let  all  this  be  done  energetically  and  systematically, 
because  disease  destroys  or  obstructs  usefulness  and  lessens 
the  sum  of  human  happiness,  —  and  I  may  indeed  ask,  where 
would  be  disease  ? 

It  must  appear  utterly  useless  to  indulge  imaginations 
like  these,  now ;  and  to  most  readers  they  must  seem 
mere  fantasies.  And  yet  one  of  two  alternatives  we  must 
choose.  We  must  say  that  a  command  to  love  the  Lord  our 
God  with  all  the  heart,  the  strength  and  the  soul,  is  merely  fan- 
tastic and  unreal,  or  we  must  say  that  it  expresses  a  law  which 
reasonable  men  may  seek  to  obey  as  far  as  they  can,  with  a 
constant  desire  to  make  their  obedience  more  and  better ;  and 
that  it  may  be  hoped,  that  men,  in  some  far  distant  age,  will 
obey  such  a  law  in  a  degree  far  beyond  any  thing  now  seen  ; 
and  that  such  laws  therefore  present  a  picture  which  their 
Almighty  Author  desires  and  intends  shall  become  actual. 

And  then  the  direct  and  complete  antagonism  between  this 
possible  condition  and  the  actual  condition  of  men  becomes 
obvious  and  certain.  And  the  further  we  go  in  comprehend- 
ing this  antagonism,  the  more  clearly  we  shall  see  that  it  is 
all  summed  up  in  the  difference  between  the  natural  man  and 
the  spiritual  man ;  between  naturalism  and  a  spiritual  reli- 
gion ;  between  him  who  acknowledges  and  cultivates  only  that 
nature  born  with  him  and  in  its  essence  common  to  him  and 
the  animals,  whatever  may  be  the  cultivation  of  which  it  is 
susceptible  in  man,  a  nature  and  a  cultivation  which  would  be 
the  same  if  there  were  no  other  life  than  this ;  —  and  that 
spiritual  nature,  born  of  truth  and  faith  and  the  knowledge  of 
God  and  the  desire  to  obey  Him  and  to  love  Him ;  born  in 
them  who  permit  it  to  be  born  and  who  therefore  become  spir- 
itual men ;  and  never  born  in  them  who  refuse  to  it  leave  to 
live. 

And  there  are  views  of  this  matter  which  may  bring  to  us 


448  REGENERATION. 

comfort  and  hope.  "We  may  see  abundant  indications  that 
man,  on  the  whole,  has  advanced  towards  the  end  which  God 
desires.  "We  may  see  reason  to  hope,  that  while  these  pur- 
poses of  God  are  delivered  over  to  the  freedom  and  self- 
determination  of  man,  because  only  through  that  freedom  can 
they  be  accomplished,  they  are  not  relinquished,  not  forgotten 
of  God.  His  infinite  wisdom  watches  over  them  and  is  able 
to  provide  that  even  the  freedom  of  man  should  become  His 
instrument.  He  may  well  be  patient  who  has  Eternity  for 
His  time. 

And  then  too  the  man  who  is  weary  with  his  burden  and 
faint  with  the  sense  of  his  failure,  may  give  somewhat  of  con- 
solation to  himself.  When  he  imagines  a  completed  regenera- 
tion, and  compares  it  with  his  own  condition,  or  with  the  best 
condition  he  can  hope  to  attain  in  this  life,  he  may  well  be 
faint.  But  he  may  remember  that  regeneration  begins  with 
the  first  genuine  desire  and  effort  to  avoid  an  evil  act  because 
it  is  a  sin  against  God ;  that  it  then  begins  a  life  which  may 
never  end ;  that  with  every  such  desire  and  effort  it  grows ; 
and  that,  however  imperfect  it  may  be,  if  it  be  alive  in  his 
heart  when  he  passes  into  the  other  world,  there  the  Omnipo- 
tence which  upholds  his  feeble  and  faltering  footsteps,  will 
lead  him  to  a  place  among  the  angels,  where  he  may  go 
forward,  ever  forward,  even  as  they  go. 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


A. 

Affiritative,  or  negative  state  of 
mind,  47. 

Angels,  with  tiiem  self-love  exists  but  is 
subordinated  to  higher  loves,  62.  Life 
received  by  man  from  angels  gives  free- 
dom, 116. 

Apostles,  chapter  on  the,  362.  Three  of 
them,  Peter,  James,  and  John,  have  a 
kind  of  headship ;  what  it  means,  and 
what  each  of  the  three  means,  362. 
Thomas,  the  incredulous ;  what  the 
narrative  concerning,  means,  371-380. 
Fishers  of  men,  and  casting  the  net  on 
the  right  side  of  the  ship ;  what  this 
means,  366.  Peter  representing  Faith 
failing  and  strengthened,  367.  Peter, 
whj-  called  a  Kock,  and  what  is  meant 
by  the  Kock  on  which  the  Church  is 
built,  368-371.  Peter,  James,  and 
John  ascending  with  Jesus  the  Mount 
of  Transfiguration,  372.  What  is  meant 
by  our  I<ord"s  saying  concerning  John, 
'■  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  until  1  come," 
381. 

Archangels,  highest,  most  constantly  led 
by  the  Lord,  114. 

Assyria,  meaning  of,  72. 

Axioms,  necessary  foundations  for  all  rea- 
soning, 105. 

B. 

Baptism,  the  sacrament  of,  chapter  on, 

334. 
Bible,  recent  attacks  upon,  12. 
''  Beginning  of  miracles  "  at  the  marriage 

in  Cana  of  Galilee,  190-211. 
Birds  and  insects,  what  they  correspond 

to,  266. 

c. 

Cana  of  Galilee,  miracle  at  the  mar- 
riage in,  190-211.  ■ 


Causation,  God  the  First  Cause,  428. 
Swedenborg's  theory  of,  428-433. 

Causes  and  effects,  series  of,  must  be  car- 
ried not  backward  but  upwards,  105. 

"  Choose  ye  this  day  whom  you  will  serve," 
the  command  of  every  day,  90. 

Christians,  early  ;  efforts  of,  to  interpret 
Scripture  by  symbolism,  9. 

Christianity,  history  of,  40.  Capacity  of 
development  and  adaptation,  41. 
Founding  and  growth  of,  a  miracle, 
188. 

Closing  scenes  in  our  Lord's  life,  chapter 
on  the,  396. 

Commandments,  the,  of  infinite  meaning, 
21-23. 

Conception,  the  miraculous,  the  greatest 
of  miracles,  171,  185.  Explanation 
of,  given  by  the  New  Church,  172,  187. 

Conscience,  God  leads  man  to  Himself  by, 
110. 

Conservation,  and  unity  of  force ;  what 
might  have  been  learned  about  it  from 
Swedenborg  a  century  ago,  4.33. 

Co-operation  of  the  human  with  the  di- 
vine, 403. 

Correspondence,  1-35.  Shown  in  lan- 
guage, 2. 

Cowper,  quotation  from,  220. 

Creation,  work  of.  15-17. 


D. 

Demojjiac  possessions,  wliat  they  were, 

and  how  cured,  233-240. 
Divine  life,  every  element  of,  given  to 

man,  109. 
Divine  power,  comes  from  perfect  union 

of  Love  and  Wisdom  ;   illustrated  by 

comparison  \Tith  human  power,  126. 
Divine  and  human,  one  in  origin,  how 

separated,  and  how  united,  403. 
Divine,  the,  and  the  human,  chapter  on, 

402. 
Divine  human,  chapter  on  the,  418. 


[451] 


452 


INDEX. 


Deus  Homo  ;  why  I  give  this  title  to  my 
book,  see  note  fronting  the  first  page,  1. 

Devil,  not  a  person  who  is  sovereign  of 
hell,  98. 

Devil  and  Satan,  what  is  meant  by,  99. 

Devils  know  God  only  as  their  master, 
118.  Cast  out  of  those  whom  they  pos- 
sessed, 233. 

E. 

Egypt,  Assyria  and  Judea ;  meaning  of, 
72.  Woe  and  desolation  of,  76-81. 
Blessings  promised  to,  82. 

Egypt,  sojourn  of  our  Lord  in,  72.  What 
is  meant  bv  going  down  into,  73. 

Eternity  of  Hell,  154. 

Evil,  origin  of,  explained  by  origin  of 
freedom,  417. 

Example  of  Jesus,  how  far  can  man  fol- 
low it,  68. 

External  world,  common-sense  belief  of 
it  just,  136.    A  reality,  137. 


Faith,  a  reality,  and  the  power  of  faith, 
225-227. 

Form  and  Law,  used  as  identical  words 
by  Lord  Bacon,  434. 

Force,  or  power  or  faculty,  in  its  origin 
supernatural  and  divine,  167.  The  re- 
cent doctrine  of  the  conservation  or 
unity  of,  432. 

Foreknowledge  of  God,  what,  90. 

Freedom,  why  given  to  man,  38,  60,  65. 
The  gift  of  God  from  Himself,  89.  Ap- 
parent absence  of,  in  temptation,  92. 
Bad  men  do  all  they  can  to  lessen  their 
own,  93.  Chapter  on,  100.  In  the 
mineral,  vegetable,  and  animal  king- 
doms, 101.  In  man,  what,  102.  As  it 
grows  happiness  grows,  103.  Human, 
the  largest  measure  of  divine  freedom 
which  can  be  given,  103.  Infinite  and 
eternal  growth  of,  104.  In  all  creatures 
limited,  107.  External  or  internal,  108. 
Small  and  feeble  at  its  beginning, 
grows  and  strengthens  by  exercise,  109. 
Man  never  so  free  as  when  compelling 
himself  to  good,  118. 


G. 

Geology,  what  it  teaches,  439. 
Oethsemane,  the  agony  in  the  Garden,  not 

an  anticipation  or  fear,  but  a  present 

agony,    from     temptations,    396-399. 

The  agonv  in  the  Garden  culminated 

on  the  crab's,  399,  400. 
Give  unto  God,  how  we  can  do  this,  256. 
Gnashing  of  teeth  ;  what  it  means,  312. 
God,  is  Good  and  is  I>ove,  64.     His  share 

in   the  work  of  our  regeneration,  ti4. 

Why  he  does  not  destroy  all  evil  by  His 


almighty  power,   69.     Leads  man   to 
Himself,  by  his  conscience,  110. 
Gospels,  surrendered  to  human  freedom, 

25,  26.     Without  them  no  Christianity, 

26.  How  interpreted  by  Kenan,  and 
such  as  he,  27.  Apparent  disorder  in, 
35.  Only  invite  acceptance,  never  com- 
pel it,  39. 

H. 

Heaven,  nature  of,  145.  Happiness  of, 
founded  on  love  of  usefulness,  16J. 
Divided  into  three  heavens,  the  heaven- 
ly, the  spiritual  and  the  natural,  —  de- 
fined, 147.  Innumerable  societies  in, 
larger  and  less,  how  arranged,  148. 

Hell,  Swedenborg  asserts  eternity  of,  but 
not  an  eternity  of  punishment,  155. 
None  punished  in  the  other  world  for 
sins  committed  here,  156.  Is  the  reverse 
of  heaven,  151.  Fires  of,  what  they  are, 
153. 

Herod,  what  is  meant  by,  74.  First  hear- 
ing, then  imprisoning,  and  then  slaying 
John  ;  what  this  means,  345. 

Holy  Ghost,  sin  against  the,  what  it  is, 
229-231.  What  is  meant  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  or  Holy  Spirit,  424. 

Human,  differentiated  from  the  divine,  by 
Proprium,  415. 

Human  freedom  and  human  duty,  437. 


Imagination,  its  function  and  value, 
4-6. 

Immortality,  taught  by  the  Gospels,  133. 
An  argument  for,  413. 

Incarnation  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  greatest 
of  miracles,  171. 

Indestructibleness  of  all  thought  and 
affection,  83. 

Infinite,  tlie  idea  of,  in  the  natural  sci- 
ences, 404.  The  idea  of  the  science  of 
religion,  405.  The  idea  of,  necessarily 
imperfect,  but  capable  of  eternal  de- 
velopment and  growth,  407. 

Imnost  of  our  being,  we  are  wholly  un- 
conscious of,  64. 

Internal  and  external,  58. 

Internal  of  man,  if  it  prevails  over  the 
external,  the  man  is  saved,  69. 

Inspiration,  what  it  is,  18-20. 

"It  is  wi-itten,"  the  answer  to  every 
temptation,  99. 


Jesus  Christ,  birth  of,  52.  They  who 
believe  in  Him  receive  Him,  64.  Inter- 
nal and  external  of,  57,  67-  His  life  on 
earth  exhibited  externals  of  His  inter- 
nal works,  65.  How  the  son  of  David, 
66.  His  example,  67.  Our  lledeemer; 
how,  70.  Childhood  of,  75.  Tempta- 
tions of,  86-99.    Tempted,  as  we  are, 


INDEX. 


455 


92.  Did  not  redeem  the  devils,  but  re- 
liered  them,  94.  The  Devil  taketh  Him 
up  on  a  his;h  mountain,  95.  The  Devil 
setteth  Him  on  a  pinnacle  of  the  tem- 
ple, 98.  His  service  not  servitude  but 
freedom,  120.  U'hy  he  was  baptized, 
«  341.  Of  what,  and  how,  he  could  re- 
pent, 841-343.  Died  on  the  Cross,  not 
of  the  Cross  :  died  from  an  agony  of 
temptation,  399-401.  By  what  means 
and  in  what  way  He  made  His  human 
divine,  419-424. 
Jews,  of  the,  51.  A  chosen  people,  but 
not  chosen  for  their  exceilence,  66. 

L. 

Laws  of  nature,  what  they  are,  169. 

Lazarus,  Kenan's  explanation  of  it  as  the 
trick,  27.  The  resurrection  of,  217- 
219. 

Led  by  love,  difficulty  of  understanding, 
113. 

Leprosy,  that  this  disease  corresponds  to 
profanation,  229-232. 

Life,  exists  in  the  unimpregnated  ovum, 
potentially,  16.  In  man,  as  Divine  Life 
Suited  for  man  and  in  man,  and  given 
to  man  to  be  his  own,  20.  Attempts  at 
defining.  106.  Comes  to  us  from  those 
above  aud  those  below,  114.  From  be- 
low, seems  to  promise  freedom  to  those 
who  love  it,  116.  The  eternal  conflict 
of,  119.  The  infinite  love  of  God  shown 
in  His  giving  His  own  life  to  man,  to  be 
man's  own.  124.  Divine,  received  with- 
out perversion,  constitutes  heaven,  145. 
That  God  alone  is  hfe,  and  has  in  Him- 
self life,  and  that  all  life  is  His  life  im- 
parted, 416 

M. 

Man,  never  coerced  into  reception  of 
truth,  13.  Must  co-operate  with  the 
work  of  God,  37.  Internal  and  exter- 
nal of,  58.  His  share  in  the  work  of  re- 
generation, 64.  Condition  of,  at  the 
coming  of  our  Lord,  69.  Is  a  person 
because  he  possesses  the  power  of  self- 
determination,  125.  The  greatest  man, 
"  Maximus  Homo,"  149. 

Mar}',  why  selected  to  be  the  mother  of 
our  Lord,  66. 

Material  body,  in  itself,  always  dead,  but 
lives  while  a  spiritual  body  animates  it, 
166. 

Matter,  what  it  is,  135. 

Messiah,  the,  expected  and  desired,  but 
rejected  and  crucified,  52.  Expected  by 
the  Jews,  and  rejected  by  them,  134. 
Expected  now  as  before ;  and  having 
come  is  rejected  as  before,  393. 

Miracles,  chapter  on,  162.  Of  our  Lord, 
acts  of  divine  power  working  by  un- 


usual means  and  agency,  172.  Cannot 
be  believed  by  one  whose  natural  facul- 
ties of  thought  only  are  exercised,  181. 
Use  of  this  word  in  the  Gospels.  182. 
Word  so  translated  means  only  "  sign.'' 
184.  Of  cure,  how  wrought!  212-219. 
Lazarus,  217-219.  In  what  sense  the 
New  Church  does  not  rest  on  the  evi- 
dence of,  221-223.  The  working  of,  on 
the  Sabbath,  223.  Cure  of  Peter's 
wife's  mother,  227-259.  Of  casting  out 
devils,  233.  Of  the  devils  who  when 
cast  out  went  into  the  swine,  233. 

Miraculous  conception,  cannot  be  denied 
and  the  Gospels  received,  56. 

Mount  of  Transfiguration,  372. 

Mountains,  their  correspondence  and  sig- 
nification, 373-376. 

Moses  and  the  prophets,  what  they  teach 
concerning  life  after  death,  305  -307. 

N. 

Natukal  truth  and  spiritual  truth,  49. 

Natural  faculties  may  be  exclusively  ex- 
ercised, 165- 

Natural  and  supernatural,  distinction  be- 
tween, 167.  Common  mistake  about, 
167. 

Naturalism,  how  it  regards  a  miracle, 
48. 

Nicodemus,  conversation  with,  249-253. 

New  Church,  reconciles  reason  and  imagi- 
nation, science  and  poetry,  10  Xow 
descending  from  God,  29.  Not  secta- 
rian ;  its  truth  wide  as  the  universe,  and 
wider,  41.  Truth  of,  a  reconciling 
truth,  42.  Truth,  its  claims  may  by 
their  magnitude  repel  belief,  43.  Truth, 
evidence  of,  44.  Reception  of,  must  be 
slow  and  gradual,  45. 


o. 


Outermost,  by  this  word  is  meant  far- 
thest from  God.  63. 
Oar  Lord,  his  relation  to  the  Bible,  29. 


Parables,  chapter  on.  241.  That  our 
Lord  spake  only  in  parables,  246  The 
cleansing  of  the  temple  by  our  I/Ord, 

248.  Conversation    with    Nicodemus, 

249.  The  conversation  with  the  woman 
of  Samaria,  253-258.  The  sower  who 
went  out  to  sow,  258-269.  The  tares 
sown  among  the  wheat,  262-2&4.  The 
grain  of  mustard-seed,  2t>4-267.  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  compared  to  a  net, 
267-269.  That  the  new  wine  requires 
new  bottles,  270-281.  Of  the  man  who 
had  a  hundred  sheep  and  lost  one,  and 
the  woman  who  had  ten  pieces  of  silver 
and  lost  one,  281-284.  Of  the  laborers  in 


454 


INDEX. 


the  vineyard,  285-286.  The  man  who 
had  two  sons,  286.  The  marriage  supper 
to  which  they  who  were  bidden,  would 
not  come,  287.  The  importunate  widow, 
288.  What  euteretli  the  man  doth  not 
defile,  289-292.  The  good  Samaritan, 
292-298.  The  rich  man  and  Lazarus, 
298-308.  Of  the  ten  virgins,  308-310. 
01'  the  five  talents,  310.  Of  those  who 
chose  out  the  chief  rooms,  312-314. 
Of  the  rich  man  whose  ground  brought 
forth  plentifully,  314.  Of  tlie  Pharisee 
and  the  Pubhean  in  the  temple,  315. 
Of  the  rich  young  man  who  came  to 
Jesus  and  went  away  sorrowful,  316- 
321.  Of  the  wicked  husbandmen,  who 
slay  our  Lord  that  they  may  seize  on 
his  inheritance,  321-333. 

Passover,  the  origin,  practice,  and  mean- 
ing of,  347-351. 

Personality  of  man,  88. 

Peter's  wife's  mother,  cure  of,  227-229. 

Pharisees  (see  Sadducees). 

Poetry,  whence  it  is,  and  what  it  effects, 
3-8. 

Power,  the  gift  of  God  from  Himself, 
89. 

Prayer,  the  Lord's,  chapter  on,  121.  The 
Lord's,  prominent  in  the  New  Church, 
121.  The  Lord's,  if  we  pray  well,  we 
must  pray  "  after  this  manner,"  122. 
The  Lord's,  analyzed,  122.  Holds  an 
important  place  in  every  system  of  reli- 
gion, 123.  Diflttculty  of  underetanding 
why  we  should  pray  to  omniscient  and 
intiuite  love,  123.  Opens  the  doors  and 
windows  of  the  soul,  124.  What  it  is, 
and  what  it  does,  126.  Difliculty  about, 
only    metaphysical    and   ratiocinative, 

127.  Common-sense  conclusion  about, 
just,  127.  To  God,  illustrated  by  earn- 
est request  of  a  child  to  its  father,  128. 
Of  Solomon  at  dedication  of  the  temple, 

128.  Of  enthusiasts,  129.  Only  to  those 
who  ask  can  it  be  given,  130. 

Profanation,  what  it  is,  229-232. 
Proprium,  the  use  and  meaning  of  the 

word  explained,  415. 
Purpose  of  this  book,  29. 

E. 

Reason  in  Nature,  83. 

Keconcilement  of  infinite  love  with  hu- 
man suffering,  112. 

Redemption,  what  and  how  effected,  70, 
422. 

Regeneration,  what  and  how  effected, 
2.50-253. 

Relations  of  Swedenborg;  abstract  of, 
159. 

Remains,  83. 

Riclics,  what  is  meant  by  trusting  in, 
319. 

Robinson,  John,  of  T.«ydcn,  his  hope 
about  the  Word  of  God,  82. 


s. 

Sacrament,  what  it  is,  334. 

Sadducees  and  Pharisees,  chapter  con- 
cerning, 382.  That  the  Sadducees  rep- 
resent unbelief,  and  the  Pharisees 
represent  belief  with  pride,  self-trust, 
and  bigotry ;  and  that  they  are  as 
prevalent  now  as  at  our  Lord's  first 
coming,  and  however  hostile  to  each 
other,  unite  in  resisting  and  rejecting 
Him,  now,  in  His  second  coming,  382. 

Satan,  what  is  meant  by,  99. 

Science  and  philosophy  of  the  present 
day  irreligious,  42o.  Their  most  im- 
portant and  final  function  should  be  to 
confirui  religious  truth,  428. 

Senses,  spiritual,  how  opened,  19.  Natu- 
ral, what  they  in  part  disclose,  136. 

Sickness,  what  it  is,  213. 

"  Soul  in  Nature,"  Oersted's,  12. 

Space  and  time,  what  they  are,  139.  Mea- 
sure each  other,  139. 

Spiritism,  or  spiritualism,  what  it  is  and 
what  it  teaches,  301-305. 

Spiritual  organs  within  material  organs, 
18.  Substance,  what,  135.  World,  the, 
chapter  on,  132.  In  the,  things  ap- 
pear differently  to  different  persons, 
142.  Divided  into  Heaven,  Hell,  and 
World  of  Spirits,  144. 

Stones,  the  command  that  they  should 
become  bread,  94. 

Supernatural,  all  faculty  or  force  is,  in  its 
origin,  and  becomes  natural  when  it 
comes  down  into  and  operates  in  na- 
ture, 167. 

Supper,  the  Sacrament  of,  chapter  on, 
347.  The  holy,  Flesh,  Blood,  Bread, 
Wine,  Eating  and  Drinking,  what  they 
mean  in  reference  to,  352-358.  The 
washing  of  the  disciples'  feet,  after  the, 
358-361. 

Sun,  instrument  of  the  creation  of  planets, 
142.  In  the  spiritual  world,  "  the 
I'irst  proceeding  from  the  Lord,"  143. 

Swedenborg,  not  inspired ;  the  general 
facts  of  his  life,  134.  His  spiritual  senses 
opened,  184. 

Swine,  the  devils  when  cast  out  rushing 
into,  what  this  means,  238-240. 

T. 

Temptations,  of  our  Lord,  85-99. 
Lasted  during  his  whole  life  on  earth, 
95. 

Temple,  the  cleansing  of  by  our  Lord, 
248. 

Time,  measured  in  this  world  by  revolu- 
tion of  the  earth,  139.  Measured  in 
the  spiritual  world  by  succession  of 
state.  140. 

"  Thou  Shalt  not  steal,"  22. 

Transfiguration,  the,  on  the  mountain, 
372. 


INDEX. 


455 


Transubstantiation,  352. 

Trinity  of  divine  persons  utterly  rejected 
by  the  New  Church ;  but  a  Trinity  of 
divine  elements  or  attributes  in  the 
Lord,  held,  423,  424. 

Truth,  do  you  love  it?  49. 

u. 

Utopias,  constructed  on  the  principles 
of  naturalism  and  selfishness,  443. 

w. 

Water,  made  wine  in  Cana  of  Galilee ; 
that  this  miracle  signifies  the  "  water 
of  purification  "  of  the  Jews  converted 
by  our  Lord  into  the  wine,  or  spiritual 
truth,  of  the  Gospels  ;  and  the  relation 
of  the  Jewish  Church  to  the  Christian, 
191-211. 

Woman  of  Samaria  at  the  well  of  Jacob, 
263-258. 


Word,  the,  written  by  inspiration  in  ac- 
cordance with  correspondence,  18.  The 
letter  of,  certain  qualities  of,  21.  Trans- 
lations and  copies  of,  24.  Three  ways 
of  viewing,  31.  Its  spiritual  sense  con- 
tinuous and  perfect,  34.  The  word 
of  a  man,  what  it  is.  53.  The  ^\■ord  of 
God,  what,  53.  By  His  Word  all 
things  made,  53.  The  Word  made  flesh, 
55. 

World,  external,  created  through  internal 
world,  140.  In  this  world  persons  of  all 
kinds  consociate ;  in  the  other  associated 
only  by  affinity,  141.  Kxtemal,  what 
it  consists  of,  137.  External  spirit- 
ual as  real  as  external  natural,  138. 
Natural  and  spiritual,  differences  be- 
tween, 139. 

World  of  Spirits,  the,  what  is  meant  by 
this  phrase,  151  Men  are  in  it  imme- 
diately aft«r  death,  to  prepare  for 
heaven  or  hell,  157.  The  greater  part 
of  Swedenborg's  relations  of  things  seen 
and  heard  in  the  spiritual  world  refer 
to,  169. 


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Testimony  of  the  Evangelists. 

Tone  of  Existing  Skepticism  and  Un- 
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Bishop  Colenso. 

Strauss's  t,ife  of  Christ. 

Kenan's  Life  of  Christ. 

The  Fourth  Go.spel. 

The  :«vnoptical  Gospels. 

Effort" of  .Modem  Skeptics. 

Swedenborg's  Doctrine  of  an  Internal 
Sense. 

Historical  Evidence  Unanswerable,  but 
not  Satisfactory. 


Second  Coming  of  the  Lord. 

The    Science  of   Correspondences  Not 

Mere  Symbolism. 

A  Universal  Language. 
The  Scriptures  written  on  this  Principle. 
The  Science  of  Correspondences  known 

to  the  Ancients. 
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Difficulties  in  the  Literal  Sense  of  the 

Bible. 
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Essays  of  Mr  Parson.*. 
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